Capitol Deception
by cheeto.banana.fanfic
Summary: Oleander Evanthe and Chromia Basanite are 17 year old girls who come from completely different worlds. When Olenader and her friend Peeta are drawn for the D12 tributes and Chromia and Cato are drawn for the D2 tributes for the 74th annual Hunger Games what will happen when unlikely friendships and relationships form? After all there must only be one victor. R
1. Chapter 1 -Ander POV-

_**Thanks for taking the time to read our story. We would really appreciate reviews on how we are doing and how we can improve. Also if you like the story please tell us because we are currently working on a sequel to Capitol Deception. **_

Chapter 1

I shift onto my side in the small bed that I share with my sister, her dark brown hair sloppily fanned out across the pillow. I look to my left and gaze at the dirty glass encased in the window pane, the sun is just now deciding to make its presence known to the world and a few rays filter in through the clouds. I release a sigh and slowly make my way out of the comfortable bed being careful not to wake my sister. I pull on my hunting boots and expertly tuck my worn down cargo pants into the sides. Slipping on my dad's old hunting jacket I stride over to the door, only stopping to glance at my mother and little brother Jace snuggled comfortably in their own bed. Opening the door I'm instantly hit with a cool breeze, I savor it only for a moment before breaking into a slow jog to the fence that surrounds District 12. As I approach it, constantly making sure no one is following me, I listen for the hum that warns me the fence is live with electricity, there is none. I shimmy under the hole in the fence that is concealed by a bush and make a bee line for the rotten stump where I hide my weapons. I retrieve my bow and arrows and begin my hunt. Two hours later my efforts are rewarded when I have three rabbits and two squirrels in my game bag that I carried with me to the woods. That's when I spot it, a doe just standing in the clearing right ahead of me. It has no clue that as I raise my bow I am preparing to end its life, I mean why wouldn't I? This one deer could feed five families. I'm just about to release the arrow when- "Hey Ander! You caught anything yet?" Gale. He knew good and well that I was about to kill that deer!

"What the heck Gale!" I scream as I stomp over to him and punch him in the arm. "Why would you do that I haven't seen a deer in months!" I'm still shouting because I'm furious, and what is Gale doing, standing there with a smirk on his face! "You forgot didn't you" he says, forgot what could I have forgotten its just- oh no. The reaping, I guess my theory of "block it out and try to forget that its Sally's first year" worked a little too well. "Yes" I begrudgingly admit to Gale, now I know why he stopped me from shooting that deer, he knows I wouldn't miss and that our district is crawling with peacekeepers who are trying to make up for their leniency on rule breakers on this oh so I'm important day. I roll my eyes. "Gale next time you do that I'm going to shoot you in the foot" I state. He knows not to mess with me during a hunt. After that I sock him in the arm for good measure and to wipe the cocky grin off of his face. "Come on Ander" he chuckles pulling my arm and dragging me back towards the fence. I follow him knowing that its high time I get home and pretty myself up, wouldn't want to disgust the capitolites when they see us on screen at the reaping, note the sarcasm. We reach the tree line before the fence and I stop and turn to my best friend. "Gale please promise me you won't get picked". He reaches over and grabs me pulling me into a hug. I wrap my arms around him. "You know I can't do that Ander" he says. "I know you can't" I sigh into his chest "but it would make me feel better to hear you say it". "Alright then" he sighs. I give him a squeeze and turn back to the fence to crawl under when he speaks again. "wear something pretty" he snickers, knowing that I despise dresses. I give him a dismissive wave, "oh shut up" I huff. I crawl back under and begin the trek back to my house, well more like shack, its basically one unstable room with a leaky roof and rotting side boards. But I love it, its my home. Its where my father taught me to sing and I made daisy chains with sally and chased Jace around the meadow beside it. But being from the seam, the poorest part of District 12, you couldn't expect much out of our little house. We were lucky, we eat better than half of the district because my dad taught me to hunt before he died. Dad. I know it would break his heart knowing that his youngest daughter has her first reaping today. All this crosses my mind as I walk back to our house. I open the door to find that Sally, Jace, and Mom have all dressed and left my clothes laid out on my bed. I smile at them and scurry off to the small tub where I try to scrub off all the coal dust that accumulates over literally everything in this freaking district. Afterward I pull on the worn down gray dress that my mother lent to me, pulled my hair back into the ponytail that consistently adorns my head and slip on my old shoes that are much too tight. But who cares about shoes when its a struggle just to put food on the table. Walking out of the small bathroom I spot something strange with Sally's hair. I hurry over to her and re braid it considering that she had done it herself and left many pieces out of place. In no less than a minute I am finished, I used to braid my hair every day, until I had it cut off at my collarbone and sold. We needed the money. Now my straight dark blonde hair is tossed into a ponytail every morning before I go to hunt. Sally looks up at me, she's short for a twelve year old and I'm considered tall for a 17 year old girl, her warm blue eyes that are so similar to mine are swelling with tears. I know that she tries to put on a brave face and pretend that she isn't scared of the reaping, she says that she is going to be strong like me, but what she doesn't know is that I'm not strong I'm weak and pathetic and scared to death that her name will be the one plucked from the reaping ball. But I hide it. I'm the protector and provider of these children and my mother, who completely checked out when my dad died in a mine explosion. So I put on my impassive mask and do what needs to be done, not dwelling on the past and letting a tear claw its way out of my eye and down my face. I bend down and wrap my little sister in a tight hug and tell he she will be fine, I mean she will be right? Her name is only in there once. I tell her that also. Then Jace wobbles over and scoots in between us, he is five and doesn't understand what is going on. He wraps his arms as far as they will go around Sally and she stops crying. I tug her up gently "Come on duckie" I coo using the nickname my father gave her long ago. She stands and we all exit the house and trudge to the town square, checking in a taking our respective places in the roped off areas depending on age. I spot Gale in the 18 year old section and flash him a hesitant smile. The time of impending death is upon us, and the entire district knows it. Its thick in the air, threatening to smother the helpless starving children who each have a slip, if their lucky, or multiple slips in the glass balls that rest on the stage. That's when I see her, our district escort Effie Trinket, hopping along the stage in her extremely high and pointy heels. I wish I could stab her with them. She is dressed in a green so bright that it burns my eyes and has a wig to match it. I roll my eyes. This is what controls our country. No wonder were all starving, they wouldn't know common sense if it came up and slapped them square in the face. The worst part thought is when she opens her mouth, her capitol accent ringing in my eardrums. "Welcome, Welcome. The time has come to select one brave young man and woman for the honor of representing District 12 in the 74th annual Hunger Games!" she pipes. "Honor, please. The only out of this with honor if your reaped is to kill yourself so some Career docent have the joy of doing it" I think to myself. Then the green woman speaks up again, blabbering on about the same crap she does every year like, "the capitols generosity" lies, I scold in my mind. Or "how merciful president snow is" that right there is the biggest load of bull crap out of all the fabricated rehearsed lies they shove down our throats. I ignore everything else until Effie trills "as usual, ladies first". I hold my breath involuntarily as I silently plead that its not me pulled out of the ball. And, it isn't "Sally Evanthe". No. No, how could this happen! It was one slip, one freaking slip out of thousands! I regain my coherency just in time to see Sally hesitantly walk towards the stage, then I lose it. "I volunteer!" I shout as loud as I can. "I volunteer as tribute". Sally whips her head around and stares at me as if I'm dressed in the same color as Effie. I jog up to the stage, earning sorrowful looks from everyone in the crowd. That just makes me angrier, I don't want their pity, in need to look strong and confident if I'm going to get out of this alive. "No!" sally screams. She starts running toward me and latches herself onto my dress begging me not to do this. "Let go." I tell her. She stays. "Sally I said let. Go." I say it more sternly this time and she releases my dress just as Gale scoops her up. She is thrashing and kicking and screaming for me but I just nod in thanks to Gale and begin to mount the stage. I'm about to reach the first step when I feel something wrap around my ankle. No, I think. Because I know exactly who did it, its Jace. I look down into his gray eyes that are filled with tears because he knows that this means I'm going away and might not come back. I pick him up and plant a kiss on his forehead, I whisper "I love you, its OK" to him and pass him to my mother who has run out of the crowd to collect her son. I still remain strong, keeping an impassive nearly bored look plastered on my face, making sure there is no fear in my eyes. I climb onto the stage. "My my my" Effie says "District 12's very first volunteer, what's your name dear"? "Oleander Evanthe" I state with a clear strong voice. "Well I bet my hat that was your sister" Effie comments. "Yes" I boom into the microphone in front of me even stronger than my first reply.

"Well lovely" she pipes "District 12 meet your very first volunteer Oleander Evanthe". "And now for the boys!" I completely tune out after that, I stand there and think about everything that just happened and am lost in thought until I see a blond haired boy making his way up to the stage. I recognize this boy though, its one of my very few friends. Peeta Mellark. "Could this possibly be any worse" I think to myself as we shake hands and are escorted into separate rooms in the justice building. The goodbyes were enough to make me cry, but thankfully I didn't Seeing tiny little Jacob latch on to me and then Sally crying and telling me to try and win to come back to them, it broke my heart. Two of the three people that I'm sure I love crying. I told them I would try to win for them and followed with a tight hug to each. Then came my mother. I swear if she checked out again like when dad died I swore I would come back from the grave and kill her myself. But I just told her to stay strong and then gave her a hug, my voice was low and threatening though so I think she understood what I meant. Next was Gale, telling me I could do it, that I could win. I just nodded and hugged him tighter. And that was that. I might never see my family again but I block the thought from my mind as I enter the train. I will win, and I will come home to my baby sister and brother that I love more than anything in the world. I enter the train and my jaw nearly drops. Its huge and decorated in what I can only assume to be the most expensive furniture, wallpaper, and carpet. Then there is the food. Its absolutely sickening, everyone in District 12 is starving to death and they have enough food on this train to feed the entire district for months. To say I'm appalled is an understatement. I collect my thoughts quickly and continue through the train. Peeta slumps down into a seat and I follow suit in the one next to him. We just kind of stare at each other, he is probably thinking the same as me. We are going to have to kill each other. I push it to the back of my mind and turn away from him and stare straight ahead. "Peeta" I say, "you know your my friend and that I would do anything for you, but I have to try and get home to my sister and brother, I don't even know if my mom is going to take care of them while I'm gone." I take a deep breath. "I hate to do this but, we need to detach ourselves from each other, the last thing on earth that I want to do is kill you but if it means that I can go home to take care of them then I might have to do it". I put my head in my hands and stare at the floor, I sound like a terrible person just throwing my friend away like this, but I have no other choice. I feel a hand on my shoulder. Peeta looks at me and he says, "Ander I completely understand, but I don't want to die with you as my enemy, we could train together and just try and forget each other when we enter their arena" I look at him and nod in agreement, but now I'm just angry. "You know what Peeta your right!" I boast. "If I'm going into this sick game then I'm going to make sure that the capitol can't take anything from me but my life. They aren't allowed to have my friends and family too"! "Now that's what I like to hear" says a man from the door of the train car. I recognize him as my mentor and District 12's only living victor, Haymitch Abernathy. "Looks like this year I actually got a fighter" he says staring at me. I smirk at him. "Looks like it" I retort. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way pleased to have this man controlling my resources and training in the games. He isn't just District 12's only living victor, he's our perpetual drunk too. Even currently he smells like booze, which is probably why he didn't even reprimand me for my borderline rebellious comment. Heck he practically even encouraged it. He stumbles over to the table that holds all kinds of alcohol in crystal bottles. He begins to pour a glass but ends up bringing the entire bottle with him to the seat across from me. Then he stares. Not one word for at least five minutes, he just drinks. I glare at him, and let's just say if looks could kill his head would be rolling across the pretty blue carpet right now. Finally Peeta speaks. "So umm do you have any advi-" Haymitch cuts him off with a cackle that erupts from his throat. Now Peeta is starting to look angry but I'm near to losing it. "What you are our mentor you're supposed to give us advice and help us." Peeta retorts. Haymitch snorts. "You want some advice?" he takes a sip of his drink. "Stay Alive." And that was the final straw for me, he is gambling with my life in a few weeks and he is so drunk he probably can't even spell his own name. I pounce up from the seat and knock the putrid liquid out of his hand onto the carpet and before you can say Happy Hunger Games I've got the drunk pinned against the wall with a knife from the dining table pinned against his throat. His eyes are wide and he is breathing heavily. "Listen up!" I yell. "In a few weeks you are in control of weather I live or die inside of that freaking arena and I intend on winning so your either going to sober up and help me or I will bleed the alcohol out of you!" I finish the last part in a deadly whisper letting him know I am completely serious. And for the grand finale I slam the knife into the side of the wall directly near his neck, nearly catching skin. Haymitch grins. "I like you, and if your serious your threats we could actually get you out of the arena." "Oh I'm completely serious" I growl. I turn around and Peeta just sits there with his mouth open. I stalk out of the compartment and into the room that Effie had told me earlier was mine. I slam the door and flop down on the bed, not giving a crap about their expensive bedding, because quite frankly the capitol can just go screw themselves. Then I fall into a much needed sleep, hoping I will be more calm and less out for blood when I wake up. "Oleander, dinner is ready!" an overly excited Effie says as she peeks her head through the door. I sit up and decide that now would be a good time for me to change into some more comfortable clothes. Looking through the closet I finally find some comfortable looking black sweat pants and a gray v-neck thirst. I slip them on and shuffle out the door and into the dining cart. Peeta sits in the seat across from Effie which leaves me to sit across from Haymitch. Fine, it will just make it easier for me to stab his hand if he reaches for a drink during dinner. I slide into my seat and gawk at the sheer amount of food sitting in front of us. I have never seen so much of the stuff in one place at the same time before, and again my rage towards the capitol returns full force. I think for a moment and finally decide that it will be best to not eat more than I usually would at home, because there won't be much food in the arena so I shouldn't get used to this. I place a small serving of some kind of bird I had never seen before and some kind of white grain that resembled the tessera that we are issued back home. Everyone looks at me. Peeta stares at me in utter disbelief as he has some sort of vegetable hanging out the side of his mouth. "Hey Peeta you have a little something on your chin there." I tease. He instantly looks embarrassed and turns his face from us to clean it off. Haymitch gives me a look of, what? Approval maybe? "Well it looks like one of you finally figured it out." he mutters to himself and goes back to eating his dinner, which thankfully did not consist of alcohol. "Alright kids" Haymitch booms after we finish eating and are seated on the couch. "I have a deal for ya. I'm gonna stay sober enough to help you in the games as long as you" he says pointing to Peeta "grow a pair and defend yourself and don't just roll over and die in the games. And you" he says now directing his attention to me "don't try to kill me again, although I was pleased to see that I finally got a tribute that has some sense." Peeta just nods his head and I smirk at Haymitch as he grins back at me. I could already tell we were going to work well together. We all get up and head to our respective rooms to go to sleep for the night, Haymitch informed us that by the time we woke up the next morning we should be in the capitol. I lay down on my bed and ball myself under the covers, but then my mind begins to race, finally realizing that I was going into the hunger games. I could be dead in a few weeks. No, I promised Sally and Jace that I would come home, and no one is going to stop me. After that I fell into a bit of a restless sleep.

_**I'm running, playing in the schoolyard then is see it, a giant puff of black smoke coming from the mines. The warning bell rings in the school and I burst into a sprint and collect sally from her classroom. We run like crazy over to the collapsed mine entrance, the same one our father went into earlier this morning. Suddenly a hole opens up and sucks me down deep into the ground and black surrounds me, its suffocating me. Then he's there, staring at me asking why I didn't save him, why I let him die**_


	2. Chapter 2 -Mia POV-

Chapter 2

I wake up to an overly loud conversation coming from the next room. After years of hearing this I know that it is my queue to wake up. I look up at the ceiling and sigh. "Why can't I sleep in for once?" I groggily roll off of my small messy bed onto the floor. "Ugh" I hear my sister Clarissa walk into my room. "Oh good, you're up!" I roll my eyes. It's the same thing every morning, I wake up to the excessively loud chatter and when I fall out of bed she walks in saying the same freaking thing! Clarissa looks at me as if the she studying my whole body. "Is there something I can help you with precious?" I sarcastically remark. "It nothing I was just wondering how we ever became siblings." I give her the evil eye. "Whatever"

I slowly get up off the floor and as I do I crack my spine and toes. I can see her grimace as she walks back into the living room. I let out I huff and look around my room. It's defiantly the smallest in the house, with a small bathroom connecting to it. I have no fancy decorations like my sister does. I stopped asking for them when I realized that my mom favored my sister and despised me. I walk into my small bathroom and look in the mirror. Not surprisingly I see the same girl staring back at me like every other day. Very short strawberry blonde hair, light brown eyes with bags underneath them, and a soft yet angular face. I pull at my face wondering if I would ever look any better. Stop it, I tell myself these thoughts won't get you anywhere that you haven't been before.__I turn away from the mirror and make the short walk to my dingy shower. I turn on the water until is comfortable and jump in for a quick scrub. Once I'm out I pull on a pair of loose fitting cargo pants, and a tight black t-shirt. I can't help but to yawn as I walk out of the bathroom, the 3 hours of sleep I get every night just aren't cutting it anymore. Considering that I live in District 2 I'm surprised that I got that much sleep.

Here in District 2 we train, all day and most through most of the night. It's all any child here does, well other than school. My whole District is about winning the Hunger Games and since we have the resources to train our children we do. Every child starts to train here at age five so we have 6 years to learn and perfect what we know about our weapon. I'm jolted out of my thoughts when I'm shoved on my shoulder. I look to my right and see my best friend in all of District 2; well maybe you could say he is my only friend. "Hey Mia" he says while smiling. I can't help but to smile back. Cato is the only person that is allowed to call me Mia; everyone else calls me by my given name Chromia. "Hey Cato, How did you sleep?"He frowns and looks away. "You know how I slept Mia, considering what day it is." My eyes widen with the realization that I almost forgot that today is the reaping day. The day when one 'honorable' boy and girl get taken from the lives they know and are thrown into an arena where they fight to the death. "I'm sorry, I completely forgot." "I'm not surprised," he said with a grin. "you always did have your head in the clouds." I laugh and push his shoulder "Do you want to train some?" "Sure it can't hurt." I give him an evil grin "ill race ya" and take off running before he has a chance to react. "No fair!" I laugh and continue to sprint toward the training center or what the other Districts know it as 'school'. Before I can even get half way there I feel a tap on my shoulder and I look over to my right and see Cato grinning as he passes me. I knew from the moment I decided to race him I wouldn't win. I never win, and today wasn't going to be any different. I only come up to Cato's shoulder and he is the tallest and strongest in our class. By the time I catch up to him he is at the door of the building with his stupid 'I just won' grin on. "Maybe you should stop racing me Mia, I always win." I shake my head and smile "How do you know that I don't just let you win?" He chuckles "Oh yes that explains it" I just smile and thank him as he holds the door open for me. As we enter the building a quiet comes over us and the smiles slowly slide off of our faces. Here in the Training area you are to show no emotion.

Since today is the reaping day almost everyone is here training in case they get reaped. I sigh "Happy Hunger Games" I look at Cato and see that he is suppressing his smile. This will be the 74th Hunger Games. It was created by President Snow to keep fear within the Districts so they would not rebel again. I shiver at the thought of District 13 which lays in ruin from the Dark Days. As for the other Districts there punishment for the rebellion was and still is the Hunger Games. They get to send a boy and girl age 12-18 from each district into the games where they are formally known as tributes. Out of the 24 that go in, only one comes out and when they do they are paraded around like a celebrity for the rest of their life.

I walk over to where we store the weapons we train with and pick up my knives. I close my eyes and let the weight of them settle in my hands. They are perfectly made for my small hands and are balanced from the tip of the steel to the base of the handle, and after six years I know these knives like the back of my hand. I can't help but wonder if this year will be the year that I use knives similar to these to kill someone. I open my eyes and see Cato pick up his sword and walk towards his simulator. Right, you need to focus Mia. I drop my hands to my sides and walk to the door in front of me.

I hear the usual bell go off that tells us it's time to go home and prepare ourselves for the reaping. I jump off of the small tower and walk back into the main hall. I slip my knives back into their cases and again I wonder if this year I will use my skill with these to kill someone. "Whatcha thinking about?" I look up and see Cato's familiar icy blue eyes staring at me."I was wondering if I will have to use these this year." He frowns and says something but I don't catch it. I sigh and run my fingers through my short hair. I know that my name is in more times because I took out a tesserae which means that my name will be entered 20 times for this reaping. Normally my sister and I would split it but my mother believes that since Clarissa is a year older than me that since this is her last year that I should make up for it by entering my name for all of us. Even though it's not fair I stopped trying to fight my mom years ago, I learned that hard way that, to her, Clarissa is more important than I will ever be. NO she loves you too; it's just different because Clarissa is older. At least that's what I tell myself.

As I walk into the house I can hear my mother and sister talking about make-up and how to fix Clarissa's hair for the reaping. We are supposed to dress our best since everyone in the Capitol will be watching and because this is a 'celebration' because the Hunger Games aren't designed to make us fear President Snow. "Chromia, are you going to get ready?" "Of course but I just got in from training. Can I rest for a minute?" "Sure…OK that's a minute" My hands ball themselves into fist and the burning desire to punch my oh so lovely sister in the face is overwhelming. Control your anger, or you will get in trouble. "Fine, I'm going to get ready." I take a quick shower and rub off all of the sweat and dirt from training. I rapidly fix my hair and throw on my white dress that hugs my hips and slip on my only pair of brown sandals. I frown as I go through my list of today. "I forgot to tell Cato goodbye" "What's that?"I look over at my mother who has short brown hair and couldn't be taller than 4'9". "Nothing Mother, I was just thinking." "Maybe you should keep that to yourself" I can't do anything right with her. "Sorry. I'm going to head out for the reaping, are you ready Clarissa?" "Does it look like I'm ready?" I can hear that her voice was full of sarcasm. "Well you look ready to me, but we both know that I'm not good at this kind of stuff" "Well you are wrong; I'm not ready so you can go ahead without me. I'll catch up later." "Ok. Happy Hunger Games!" I smirk and shut the door before I can hear her respond.

I walk to Cato's house hoping that he won't be mad that I forgot to say goodbye after training. My grin gets wider the closer I get to Cato's house. Ever since we became friends I've felt more at home with his family than my own, to them I'm just another sister or a daughter. Everyone around here knows that Cato and I are brother and sister by everything but blood. When I get close enough to his house I can smell the wonderful cooking Mom has done. I don't bother to knock on the door since I'm over here more than I am my own house. "Hey Mom! Where's Cato?" She smiles at me as if I am own of her own, and I can't help but wonder if my own mother ever smiled at me that way. "He's getting ready. Are you thirsty? You know we have plenty to share." "No thanks" She smiles and nods. I hear a small crash and look up towards the area where I know Cato's room to be. "What in the world?" I chuckle as I see a miniature Cato walks out with a sheepish grin on his face. "Hey Mia" "What just happened?" "Nothing" I can see the grin he is trying to hide and I laugh as Cato comes out with his hair in every direction and his shirt half way on. I can't help but to laugh at how silly he looks. "Are you struggling there?" "I don't know, why don't you ask Castor." "Well?" Castor looks down "I was only trying to help." I shake my head and pick up Castor and hug him. "Thanks, I needed a good laugh" Cato smiles "Come on and clean up your mess Castor. I need to finish getting ready Mia; I'll be out in a few." I shake my head at Cato. When he closes the door to his room I look up and see Mom with tears in her eyes. "Mom? Are you ok?" She looks at me in the eyes and I can see her agony plain as day. "Castor's first year entering is next year and it will be Cato's last." I finally understand the reason behind her pain. They are all she has left and she is afraid of losing them. Her husband died a year after Castor was born in a peacemaker accident while at work. "I know, I'm sorry." With tears in my eyes hug her. I can't imagine having so much to lose. My father hasn't been seen since my birth and from what I have heard he is a drunken bum. I wish I could help her or give her some peace, but you can't have peace here. "We'll be fine." I watch as she wipes away her tears but she can't wipe away the ever present fear that resides in her soul. But I try not to let her know that I can tell and when she gives me a hopeful look and try my best to give her a reassuring smile. I hear the door to Cato's room open and give Mom a soft goodbye. "Are you ready to go now Princess?" Cato sticks his tongue out at me "Yes I am, thank you very much." I watch as he turns to Mom and I turn away to give them the privacy that they deserve. I hear soft murmurs and I can't help but be jealous, because no matter how close I am to his family I'm not actually a part of it. "Lets go" I turn back towards him and I notice a small tear in his eye, but I don't say anything. I never do.

As we walk towards the square we don't talk. This walking period is always reserved for our thoughts about family. Well more for Cato to think of his family and for me to wonder why I couldn't actually be his sister. I can't help but to feel a sense of dread, it's the same dread that has occupied my stomach since I first walked up to the reaping. Herein District 2 we are supposed to want to enter the games. I've always been different and this is no exception. I don't want to be in the games, not because I won't stand a chance but because I don't want to kill anyone. The worst part is, is that if push came to shove I would kill and that scares me. I know that a small part of me wants to be in the games so for once my mother will favor me and not my sister. I just hope that the part of me that wants that is smaller than the part that doesn't.

"Good luck Mia" I shake my thoughts away and look up and the one person who has always been there for me and all I can say is. "Good luck" He nods and heads toward his designated area for 17 year old boys. While I walk towards my area I look up and see Starkly Hitchbottom District 2 Capitol representative, Higgins Worsaw the Mayor of District 2, and Brutus the mentor for all tributes coming from our District. I drone out all of the Capitol propaganda and wait for Starkly to start drawing names.

"And now it's time to pick your Tributes! As always ladies first!" I watch in disgust as her perfectly manicured nails scrape across the papers. She finally picks one up." And your female tribute is…." She opens the paper "Chromia Basanite" …NO…I look up and see her twisted smile and watch as she calls me up to take my 'rightful' place next to her. I realize that my worst fear and greatest opportunity has come true. I slowly make my way up the stairs. Once I am standing next to her I look out into the crowd for my mother. When I finally find her I see that she looks relieved. Why does she look relieved that I'm up here? It dawns on me. She is relieved that it's me and not Clarissa. I turn away from her and try not to let my anger for her show on my face. After everything I've done for her and how hard I tried to be exactly want she wanted all she can be is happy?! I close my eyes and calm myself. At least I know one person who cares enough to worry for me and I start to look for Cato in the crowd. I finally find him and he looks horrified and I try to keep my composer.

"Now it's time for the boys," Once again she runs her hideous nails across the papers and picks one up. "Your male tribute is Cato Stone." "NO" I look towards Cato expecting fear to be on his face but instead I see grim determination. I know that look; it's the same one he gets when he knows that he is going into a fight that he won't win. Before he can even try to tell me his plan I know he wants to try and save me and let me win, but I won't let him. He has so much more to live for than I do. He has a family that needs and wants him and I don't. I will not let him die because he thinks he is going to be the noble big brother who protects me. I have known my whole life that I am not important. I don't have guys chasing after me, and I'm not the smartest person in my class. I'm not important and for the first time in my life I accept it.

"Happy Hunger Games Everyone! And may the odds be ever in your favor." As she walks off of stage Starkly turns toward us "Follow me." I notice that we are walking to the Mayor's house and once we get inside we are pushed into separate rooms. "You have 5mins to say goodbye." When I look up I see the door open and my mother and sister walk inside. "Don't bother saying goodbye, I know how you feel about me and I really don't want to hear it." I say forcefully. My mother looks at me with a glint in her eyes. "What do you mean 'you know how I feel about you'? How could you possibly know-" "YOU HATE ME! It's clear as day mother. I've tried my whole life to please you, to make you see that all I ever wanted was for you to love me the way I loved you. Well guess what? Your wish has come true mother, your favorite daughter will never go into the games and I will die in them. I hope you are finally happy." I yell. Before she can respond the guard comes "Next person" The next people that walk in are Mom and Castor. I don't get the chance to say anything because the next thing I know I'm wrapped up in Mom's and Castor's arms. "I'll do whatever it takes to make sure he comes home." "No Mia I can't ask you to do that-" "You don't have to" She looks at me with tears in her eyes and pulls me into a hug. "You are the daughter I never got to have." "Thank you. You are the Mom I always wanted." I can see the confusion in her eyes but I don't explain. "Bye Castor, keep Mom safe ok?" "I will, I promise." "Bye" The door opens "Time is up" The guard is waiting on me I look at him and nod. I look back and give them a determined glance to show them that I meant every word I said.

I board the train and see Cato sitting on one of the chairs near Brutus. He looks up at me "Hey" "Hi" Brutus looks me up and down, as if I am some weird specimen."At least we don't have to spend hours this year on the beauty part." I stare at him with a confused look on my face. "What?" "The past few years I've had a girls who only looked as good as they did after 3 hours with a make-up artist. This year we won't have to, you have a natural beauty all they have to do is define it a little." "Thanks…I guess" He nods and says. "So tell me ,what are your weapons of choice?" Cato looks away from the window and answers. "I use a sword or spear" "I use knives or dual swords." I reply. Brutus looks me over as if he is judging me. "Good you both have strong weapon choices." Starkly looks at Cato and I. "You both might want to get some sleep we will be in the Capitol by lunch time tomorrow." I walk over to the rooms she has pointed out and once my head hits the pillow I'm out like a light.


	3. Chapter 3 -Ander POV-

_Chapter 3_

I wake up with a start, I'm covered in sweat and am shaking. I used to have that dream all the time, I haven't had it in a few weeks and now its back again. I have a feeling that it won't be gone any time soon either. Glancing at the clock on the table beside my bed I notice that it is already eight o'clock. Might as well get a shower and get ready for a day of absolute misery. I walk into the bathroom, the cool tile on my bare feet making me shiver. I look at the shower. Nope, I have absolutely no clue how to work this thing. There are so many options that it makes my head spin, so I just punch some buttons. A warm water flows from the shower head and runs down through my hair, the shower then begins to squirt some kind of soap on me that smells actually really nice, like pine and mint. I hop out of the bathroom and dress in some khaki cargo pants similar to mine from home and a black t-shirt and some black combat boots. As soon as I walk out of the door I'm whisked to the door that leads to the outside of the train by Effie. "Wait!" I shout. I run over and grab a roll shoving it into one of the pockets on my pants. I still have to eat. Effie scolds me saying its "bad manners to put food into your pockets." so I respond with "its also bad manners to send children to kill each other." that shut her up pretty quick. I hopped down from the platform and followed Haymitch to the training center, where we stay and train up until the games. There were large crowds smashed around the entrance to the point where we couldn't get to the door. Finally, I'm fed up with the whole thing, and shout "The next person who gets in my way will have a broken nose!"as loud and viciously as I could, I was not in the mood today. I begin to move forward and everyone parted, except for this one cameraman who refused to move. When I reached him in my path, my fist connected with his face and gave a sickening crunch. I continue to stomp off into the building leaving a guffawing Haymitch, smirking Peeta, and stunned Effie in my wake. I pull open the door and step inside, a few tributes had seen me punch the cameraman and stayed far away from me, while the peacekeepers eyed me suspiciously. Haymitch finally makes it inside and we begin to walk to the elevator. I step inside and stand next to Haymitch, he turns and looks at me, "what" I say.

"Nice punch sweetheart" he pats me on the back. "Don't call me that" I say in an exasperated tone.

I wonder what Sally and Jacob are doing right now, I think as we ride up in the shiny glass box. Truthfully the whole thing makes me nervous, its much like the elevators in the mines, only nicer. The elevator dings and I step out. The apartment we are in could hold ten of my houses without a problem. I am snapped out of my musings when Effie says "Your room is this way dear". I step inside and am instantly bombarded by the capitol people. They look insane, going on about prepping me for the parade or some crap that I can't understand because of their accents. They walk me into the bathroom and start to "make me over". Whatever that means. And I find out. They are waxing me, plucking me, scrubbing me, and putting all kinds of lotions on my body and in my hair. Two hours later one of them says "OK Oleander your done now, all you have to do is sit here and wait for Cinna" I just nod. I don't care what or who I'm waiting for as long as those three are done ripping all the hair off of my body. Its been a minute or two, suddenly the door opens and a dark skinned man wearing black clothes and gold eyeliner walks in. "Hello Oleander, I'm Cinna, I'm your stylist. He shakes my hand. "Hi Cinna," I say. "You can call me Ander." he nods. "Well Ander I'm going to finish getting you ready for the tribute parade, I saw you volunteer for your sister." he states absentmindedly. "Yea" truthfully at the moment I'm a little concerned as to what I will be wearing. Stylists like to make the tributes look absolutely ridiculous "I also say you punch the cameraman." he chuckles. "well he was in my way, and I'm not really pleased with being here so..." I state matter of factly. "You are a very brave girl, I plan to make sure that the sponsors see that, I'm going to make you look dangerous, because you my friend are a force to be reckoned with. I can see nothing will keep you from returning to your family." I shake my head. "Cinna you are exactly right." I laugh. Cinna is doing my makeup in what appears to be black which would make sense considering my district is coal. "finished" he states. Good I've been sitting here for an hour. Cinna walks out and comes back in with a dress bag. "Are you ready Ander." he asks. "As I will ever be" I huff. He tells me to close my eyes and then slips the dress over me, and when I am situated in it and open my eyes I'm amazed at what he has turned me into. I don't even recognize myself. The dress is amazing. Its black and textured in a way that makes it look like coal, it seems to be wrapped around my torso and then flows out at my hips. The best part though is that it only has one shoulder strap, and on that side there is a piece of fabric that is attached to the back of the dress, it flows all the way to the floor and almost looks like a cape that comes over only one of my shoulders. And Cinna is going to light it on fire. I twirl around in front of the mirror until Cinna stopped me. "here" he said and handed me those heels or whatever like what Effie wears. "I can't walk in these!" I exclaim. "Well you don't have to, just stand in the chariot with them on" he explains. "well then can I go barefoot until we get to the chariot?" I sigh. "hahah sure Ander." he laughs. I walk down the hallway into the sitting room where Peeta and Haymitch wait. Peeta is dressed in a black suit that has a cape on the back that will also be lit on fire. Peeta stands up, his mouth hanging slightly open. "wow Ander" he breaths "you actually look like a girl!" he jokes. "Awww thanks Peeta, so do you" I say.

"Thanks Ande-hey wait a second!" Both Haymitch and I laugh until our sides hurt. "Come on kids, time to head down to the parade." Haymitch calls from the elevator. Peeta and I strode over. The ride down is silent and I begin to think. I have to make a good impression so that I can get sponsors Without sponsors my chances of going home will become much slimmer. I guess Peeta notices my worried expression, he reaches over and grabs my hand. "Don't worry Ander, they will love you." he smiles. "They already do sweetheart, that stunt with the cameraman! They ate it up" Haymitch adds. I'm still worried though. So many things could go wrong, then my family will be left to fend for themselves, I can't let that happen. Its not me I'm worried about, I could disappear and not many people would notice up until now, but my family isn't as strong as me. I have learned to put on that mask and stay strong for everybody that needs me, no matter how much I'm hurting inside. I step out of the elevator onto the floor where all the tributes are waiting to load into their chariots, ours is black with black horses. I look around, most of the other tributes look ridiculous in their costumes,1,2 and 4 look decent only because they are the rich career districts. As I'm glancing around I feel eyes on me, I turn around to find the male from 2 staring me down. What is his problem! I mean he looks like he wants to slit my throat here and now. I give him my most intimidating glare and watch for a reaction. His icy blue eyes widen at the look I'm giving him before he returns it full force. He doesn't scare me one bit though. As we continue our glaring contest I size him up, he is tall, about six two or so. He has icy blue eyes and short spiky blonde hair. Its obvious that he has trained before, there are muscles bulging out everywhere on his body. He could probably snap my neck with his bare hands, but I don't go down without a fight. He is definitely my biggest competition in the games. I can tell that he is doing the same as I am and trying determine what kind of threat I am. He snorts and turns away. "Well district 2" I think "you have just made a fatal mistake." I turn back around and mount the chariot, slipping on the torture contraptions that are known as high heels. "Ok I'm going to use the fire now" says Cinna. "Remember its not real so don't be scared." "I'm not scared." I state blatantly, of all the things on my mind right now fake fire is at the very bottom of the list. He lights the sleeve cape thing up and then follows suit with the head piece that rests in my expertly curled hair. "Remember to smile." Cinna calls after us as we pull away. We roll out and the noise is deafening, upon seeing our fiery entrance they got even louder, shouting our names. I look up to the screens and see my face on every one of them. With the makeup that Cinna put on me I truly look dangerous, the light from my cape and head dress casting shadows on my face that make me look formidable. As we pull into the city circle I drop my big grin. As Snow delivers a speech that I pay no attention to I notice the district 2 guy staring at me again, I give him an evil smirk that should let him know that I am a force to be reckoned with. I think he gets the message because he turns away while rolling his eyes, but I can tell he understood what I meant. That moment when his eyes of ice clashed with mine of warm waters, I could tell he understood. I am going to get home to my family, or die trying, which may very well be the case. The ceremony is over and the chariots roll back into the training center, I hop down and immediately kick off the stupid high heels. The last thing I need before going into the games are blisters all over my feet, yea that's like saying as if you weren't miserable enough let's just see what else we can do. I hear the district 3 girl snicker at my tolerance for heels, I spin around to where she stands with districts 2 and 4. My dress flows around me like smoke, my dress still on fire I send them a look that says I wouldn't do that if I were you. Her face is now serious and she looks a little intimidated, well she should be I have at least a foot on her in height and am on a war path to get home and nothing is getting in my way. I swirl back around satisfied with her reaction and walk over to the elevator with Haymitch. The door closes and he looks at me. "Sweetheart, you have a glare that can make a grown man pee himself, where did you learn that?" he laughs. "The Hob." I state "you need a glare like that if you're ever going to do any reasonable trading." "I thought I had seen you there before, if you were anyone else I would ask why, but I know who you are. They talk about you a lot Sweetheart, they are proud your one of them. Your strong girl." he gives me a light punch to the arm. "Thanks, those people are like my second family." I state absentmindedly. With that we arrive on to our floor and I walk into my room. I peel off the dress and shimmy back into the sweats and t-shirt I had on before and wash off all the makeup. I crawl into the bed, exhausted from the day and fall into a dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4 -Mia POV-

Chapter 4

"Chromia, its time to wake up! You need to be eating breakfast and getting dressed for today." I groan softly and pop my spine and toes like every other morning. When I look down I see a white dress and not my normal overly large grey shirt I sleep in. "Oh God" I was reaped for the Games this year and Cato was to. I would have to fight and kill. "Chromia are you up yet?" Comes the muffled voice of Brutus through my door. He must have been the one who woke me up. "Yes I'm about to take a shower." I jump up and walk into the bathroom. "Jeeze this bathroom is bigger than my whole room at home." I mutter to myself. I start walking to the shower and pulling off the white dress I hope to never look at again. I step into the shower and I am instantly confused. "Why are there so many buttons on here?" I randomly start to hit buttons until water and a soap that smells like roses comes out. Once I'm done I jump out and start searching for some clothes. I pick out a charcoal grey v-neck and a pair of black jeans that hug my hips and legs along with a pair of combat boots. I walk out of the room and back into the main compartment where I see Cato eating breakfast. "Hey Mia" "Hey, we need to talk." Cato raises his eyebrows but only nods in response. "I know you Cato, and for once in my life you aren't going to save me. You are going to win these games if it's the last thing I do." "What about you Mia? Don't you get a chance to try and live past these games?" I can see the anger on his face."Cato only one person can win! You have your mother and Castor to think about." "What about your mom and sister Mia? You have a family to!" "Your family needs and wants you Cato! My mom and sister have never wanted or needed me." I have tears in my eyes by the time I look up at him."If it comes down to it Cato I will die so that you can win, but I promise that I will not search out my death. Okay?"He glares at me. "No, we work together to survive if I die you can't be angry and if you die I can't be angry, deal?" "Deal." I sit down and put a small amount of food in front of me and I slowly start to eat.

"Welcome to the capitol Cato and Chromia!" Starkly looks so excited to be back home and to get to parade us around. I grimace at the thought of being paraded around like a heard of sheep. As soon as we get off of the train people start to swarm us and are asking all sorts of questions. I feel someone grab my shoulder. "Take Cato and go on up to our suite. It's the 2nd floor." I look up and nod at Brutus to let him know that I understand. I grab Cato by the arm and lead him over to the tall building where we will stay until the games start. I walk into the nearest elevator and press the big 2. When we get to our floor I see a man and I woman waiting for us. "We are your make-up team, Chromia you come with me" I look at the woman with bright purple hair and a dark yellow outfit and force myself not to run away. "Come with us sweetie" I roll my eyes and try not to punch the woman in front of me for calling me that. She leads me to a room with a big chair. "Go ahead and take off your clothes and sit down in this chair." I stare at her as she walks out of the room. I take off my clothes and sit in the chair, trying to cover myself all the while. I watch as she reenters the room with two other woman and they all sit down around me to get started. For the next hour they pluck, wax, and shave every unneeded hair off of my body so I can be 'perfect' for the parade. Then they dip me in this fowl smelling oil that is supposed to make me shiny. Then they start to put this gel in my hair which makes the short bangs I have sweep up off of my forehead. When they finish with my hair they pack up their things. "Just wait for a few minutes, Shimmer will be here soon." All three walk out of the door before I have the chance to say thanks. The next few minutes are spent waiting and adjusting to the raw flesh feeling I have all over my body. I hear the door open and look up to see a woman in a plain grey dress with curly red hair. "Hi Chromia, my name is Shimmer and I'll be doing your make-up and helping you get dressed." I can't help but to feel relieved that she looks normal unlike the other women I had. For the next 30mins she applies my make-up and does my nails. "Okay you're done!" She smiles at me. "I'll go get your dress. Just stay right here." I look into the nearby mirror to look at the make-up she has done. I am thoroughly surprised that I look normal, my make-up just highlights my features and makes me look older. When she comes back she is carrying what looks like a giant metal plate and a red dress. I see her laugh at my confusion. "This is your 'armor' for the parade and the dress you wear under it." "Oh that makes sense now." I slip the dress on and feel the silk slide until it stops just before my knees. Then Shimmer helps me put on the armor and tie the laces to the gladiator sandals. When she finishes I look in the mirror and I am surprised by what I see. The girl- no the woman in front of me looks…beautiful. My make-up defines my high cheekbones and angular face. She fixed my short blonde hair so that my bangs lift up off of my face and softly sit in the air. "You look absolutely beautiful." "Thank you!" I whisper. "My pleasure dear."I look at her and grin. With his make-up and outfit I might get some sponsors for Cato and myself. Shimmer leads me out to the chariots so I can meet Brutus and Cato. "Okay what you want to do is be nice, you want the people to like you." "Be nice, I think I can do that." I laugh and climb onto the chariot next to Cato. "Wow you look great!" I look over and notice that his outfit resembles mine but is more masculine. "You too" I watch the screen as we pull off and I note the other tributes costumes. When we stop to listen to President Snow I notice that Cato is looking to my left and I see that he is glaring at the girl beside me. What the heck did she do to earn a glare like that? I have to suppress a laugh when I notice that she is glaring back and it's more intimidating than his. As we ride to the end and get off I notice that the 'careers' are headed towards me.__Why me?__"Hey you must be Chromia! I'm Glimmer and this is Marvel." I look over to the guy she is pointing at and wave. "Well you already know my name and this is Cato." I point to him but I notice that he is glaring at the girl from before. I watch as he flinches slightly and she smirks as she walks away. I turn back towards Glimmer and Marvel. "Anyways, it's nice to meet you but Cato and I must be going now." "Okay we'll see you guys tomorrow during training." Well she is assuming a bit much. I shake my head and start to walk towards Brutus and Starkly so we can go back up to the suite.


	5. Chapter 5 -Ander POV-

Chapter 5

I wake up and look around the room, momentarily confused as to where I was, then I remember. I'm going into the Hunger Games. I sigh. I need to get up and take a shower before training. Again I'm completely lost as to what to do with the stupid thing! So I just punch the buttons and go with it. Bad decision. I get scrubbed with some kind of foamy soap that leaves my skin raw, but pleasantly it has this glowing tint to it. I hop out of the shower and tiptoe to the mirror and stare. My dark blonde collarbone length hair is dripping wet making it look much darker, my warm blue eyes have a certain hardness to them that I adopted when my dad died. My skin is lightly tanned with scars on my arms and hands from working with arrows and knives. I'm considered relatively tall for a 17 year old girl and to be completely honest, I have the shoulders of a man in my opinion. I guess the years of hunting for my family have given me a very...muscular physic. A knock at my door brings me out of my inspection of my traits. "What!" I yell. "Oleander its time for you to get ready for training." chirps Effie. "Alright, I'm working on it." I retort. Yea I'm definitely not a morning person. I walk out of the bathroom to find my training uniform laid out on the bed. I slip on the black spandex and tank top that has the number 12 printed in white on the front. I look at the clock and I have ten minutes. Shoving my feet into the combat boots provided for us and slinging my now dry hair into a loose pony tail, I skid out of the door, down the hallway. I run into the kitchen and nearly slam into the counter before snatching a roll off of the table and sliding into the elevator. "crap I hope I'm not the last one." I say to myself. Suddenly the elevator stops on the district 2 floor, silently the two tributes  
step in and the guy presses the button for the training floor. "My name is Chromia by the way." the girl says "what's your name?" Ok, what kind of game is she playing at, because sunshine over there looks

like he wants to rip my throat out. "I thought you careers cared more about district numbers than names." I bite. "Yea well Mia is different than most careers." interjects the guy. Mia sticks out her tongue at her district partner, I think I might like her. "My name is Oleander Evanthe. But you can call me Ander." I state. "Nice to meet you Ander." she says and then points over to the guy with her thumb, "this guy over here is Cato. We are from district 2." I look away from Chromia to see Cato's eyes on me once again. Well Cato if you think you can intimidate me, you are sadly mistaken. I stare back with just as much intensity. After a moment of this he lets go of a huff. I roll my eyes at Cato and turn back to Chromia. The elevator dings signaling that we arrived to the training floor. "Nice to meet you Chromia." I say as I stalk out of the elevator and over to the ring of tributes. The instructor whose name is Atla begins to speak, "In 2 weeks 23 of you will be dead and only one of you alive," well thank you for pointing out the obvious, I think to myself. "how you spend your time training could be the difference between your life and death, so I suggest you use it well." she dismisses us. Haymitch had said not to show off the fact that I can shoot a bow with deadly accuracy, just to keep to myself and practice things I'm not too good at. I glance around the room and look at the different stations. Knives, I can practice those later. Fire making, definitely not a problem I have been doing that since I was ten years old but it wouldn't hurt to practice it later. Swords, well they look interesting and I have never tried to wield one before. Peeta walks up beside me also searching for a station to start at. "Peeta I'm going over to the swords, do you want to come?" I ask him.

"Ander! Are you nuts? The sword station is crawling with careers!" he gapes. "I never said you had to come." I bite back at him. "I need to learn how to use more than one weapon if I'm going to even have a chance of coming out of this alive." Peeta looks at me, he knows I'm right and that he will also have to learn how to do something. "I think I'm just going to go to the knot tying station." he says a little defeated. "Peeta" I say gently, "you know I'm just trying to help you right? Your one of my best friends and its killing me that we are in this situation. If I die I want you to come home." He looks at me and gives me a sheepish grin. "I know Ander, thanks." he gives me a mall hug, and I give him one back. After that I finally convince him to go to the swords with me. We walk up and Cato, Chromia, Marvel, and Glimmer are already occupying the station. "Hi Chromia" I say. She turns around and smiles at me . "Hi Ander." she says happily. "Chromia, this is my district partner Peeta." I introduce the two. They kind of just stare at each other for a moment before smiling and shaking hands and introducing themselves to each other. I'm about to reply to a question when Marvel says, "What are these rats doing over here? This is where we train." he says while gesturing to district 1 and 2. "Oh" I say. "I guess I missed the Arrogant Jerks Only sign." I snarl at him. "We came over here to learn how to use a sword, now you can either get out of my way, or I can use you as the new practice dummy." I spit at him, all the while having the most deadly look I can muster plastered on my face. He just scoffs and mutters something about killing me first, I turn away and pay him no more attention. "You probably shouldn't have done that." Chromia warns. "Well" I say, " next time he should treat us with a little respect, I'm not going to let him walk all over, I don't give a crap what district he is from." Chromia's eyes widen and then she gives me a big smile. "I like you." she says matter of factly. "Thanks," I laugh, "I like you too." I walk over to the swords and give them a once over. There are some that are heavy and as big as my thigh and others that are thin and light weight. I pick up one of the smaller ones, the feeling of the cool metal of the hilt in my palm not as foreign or uncomfortable as I would have assumed. I walk over to the practice dummy that is shaped like a human. I know from years of hunting animals where the weak spots are, I assume it can't be much different for a human. The fact that the thought of actually killing another human being, taking their life away, just passed through my head sickens me a bit. But I try hard to push the thought away. I have to do it, for Sally and Jace. I begin to attack the dummy in the places I identified as vulnerable such as the underarms or kneecaps, effectively chopping off limb after limb. The sword is actually a very effective weapon and feels quite natural to me. I slice off a dummy's head in one swift stroke, it lands with a thud on the floor. "Wow, you're not half bad Ander." Chromia complements me. I must say I was a bit surprised, this girl has probably been working with swords since she could walk. "Have you ever used one before this?" she questions. "No." I state truthfully. "Oh OK, well if you would adjust your stance like this," she says showing me the proper stance, "and then use more of your power from your shoulder instead of just your elbow you will be even better." she states. Wait, did she just help me? "Chromi-" I begin but she cuts me off. "Just call me Mia." she says while grinning at me. "Ok, Mia." I say hesitantly, "why did you just help me, we are going to have to fight to the death and my being able to effectively use the sword could cost you your life." I'm not ungrateful, I say it because its true. "Well I don't really care, I like you. You actually stand up for yourself and don't let people push you around just because you're from district 12." she says shyly. "Your pretty strong yourself," I complement her back. "It takes a lot of guts to give your enemy advice, even though I don't really want to think of you as my enemy. In a different world, I think you and me would be friends. In fact, we are. I'm not going to keep the games from letting me do what I want to do and being friends with someone that I like." I say to her. She is smiling so big I thought to myself "surely that hurts her cheeks". I myself am not much of a smiler so I wouldn't know. Mia offers me her hand to shake it, and I accept. "Friends." she questions. "Friends." I state while shaking her hand and smiling. We all train at the sword station and I catch Mia instructing Peeta on how to properly use a sword and the way they are interacting is actually, dare I say, cute. They keep looking into each other's eyes. I decide that I have had enough of the swords for one day, so I head to the knot tying station. The instructor is explaining a snare that I have made several times before and could probably do in my sleep, so I zone out. I keep feeling like someone is watching me though. I turn my head to the left a little and notice that the almighty Cato has decided to grace the knot tying station with his presence. He is sending me a look that would probably scare the daylights out of anyone else, but I know he won't and can't act on it in here. "This little glare war of ours is really starting to tick me off." I think to myself. The instructor finally finishes droning on about the simple snare and releases us to the station, I head into the synthetic wild immediately to set up my snare. I'm in the middle of creating the familiar knots and loops of a twitch up snare when someone sits down beside me while working on theirs. "You do know that you're doing it all wrong." Cato says cockily. "Well considering I have made this snare since I was 12 years old and have actually _caught_ something with it, I'm positive I'm not the one doing it incorrectly." I sneer. Who does he think he is anyway? I am nearly as good as Gale when it comes to making traps, the only trouble I have is where to place them. I stand up to leave the station and so does Cato, his icy blue eyes once again clashing with my warm ones. "You really are ignorant aren't you." he chuckles. I'm about to completely go off on him when I hear familiar giggles coming from the camouflage station which is located just across from the knot station. I couldn't help but smile at what I see, Peeta is _tickling_ Mia, like full on "I'm about to pee myself I'm laughing so hard" tickling. I let out a little chuckle. Cato snorts. Well he is in for it now because he has drawn my attention back to the snide remark he made a minuet ago about my "ignorance". "Listen here," I start in a voice that is probably a little too loud for a private conversation, I could care less though, "You need to get your head out off your butt and actually consider what you're saying. I have more experience hunting than you could even _wish_to have. You have absolutely no room to scrutinize my snare when yours looked like a five year old made it." I say stepping closer to him. "And I'm sick and freaking tired of your little glares that you consistently give me! I haven't even done anything to you!" I say. "Your snare was completely wrong from what the instructor told us to do and also the glares are because your pure existence just irritates me." he spits. I have had it. I pick up my boot and slam it down on his toes then stomp away to the knife throwing station. I'm intently listening to the instructor when Mia comes up to me. "Hey can I talk to you Ander?" she says in a gentle voice. "Sure." I say. Her district partner may irritate me to no end but I still like her. "I know that Cato said a lot of stuff and has been looking at you but I would like to explain Cato and his mindset. Cato has a habit of looking angry. When he was first looking at you he wasn't trying to glare at you he was just confused by your costume. You confuse him more than anyone he has ever met. I think you may have mistaken how he was looking at you as a glare but it was just his thinking face." she explains. "Then why did he say my pure existence angered him?" I question. "Cato is kind of a rage head, especially when he is confused. When Cato gets angry he says the first thing that comes to his mind even if he doesn't mean it." she says. I understand what she means. I have also been told that I always look angry. Nope that's just my face. Suddenly Cato walks over. "Ander, can I talk to you in private?" he asks quietly. "Yea, sure." I say kindly, trying to keep in mind what Mia told me earlier. We walk silently over to the camouflage station since it is the least occupied. We sit down across from each other. "I'm sorry Ander. First of all for letting you think that I was glaring at you when I wasn't, I was just curious and confused by you, and second of all I'm sorry for yelling at you the way I did and telling you that you were ignorant and I didn't mean it when I said your pure existence irritates me. You were right about knowing more about hunting but its frustrating to see the way you blatantly do things your way instead of the instructors way." he takes a deep breath. "I have spent my whole life following directions and it is hard for me to watch other people do it." "But Mia doesn't do it," I say. "She doesn't follow directions, she can be even worse than I am when it comes to directions." he smiles at me. "She has a way of doing it so you don't realize that she didn't follow directions until after its done. You tend to be up in people's faces about it." with that he sighs, ending his surprisingly authentic apology. I give a sad laugh. Cato looks hurt and I quickly explain. "My sister Sally, she says the same thing about me. She once told me my lack of following directions is why I will never be able to cook." I smile thinking about my little sister. I miss her and Jace so much. I can feel it. For a fraction of a second I accidentally let my mask crack and that is something I cannot afford. I quickly repair it to the strong armor it once was. Cato looks at me with curiosity, then says, "we are more alike than I thought, I would do anything for my little brother. I understand why you volunteered." I give him a small smile, agreeing with his statement. We get up together and walk over to the table where our friends sit. I actually let a tiny smile form on my face, content with the new-found understanding between Cato and I. We are just nearing the table when we hear Mia say, "I'm up for it, but we will have to check with these two." pointing at me and Cato. "Check with us about what?" Cato asks. Mia responds, "Well I was wondering if you guys wanted to team up for the games." No. No. No, I can't get close to these people. Sally. Jace. Mom. They will probably die without me. Gale can't feed them forever. All the sudden I realize what has happened and my face goes pale. I'm going to have to kill every single person at this table with me in order to ever see or provide for my family again. I need to remove myself right now, before I get even more attached. "No." I say in a low and sullen tone. Then I simply grab my food tray that I picked up on the way into lunch and went to another table and sat by myself. It had to be done. Maybe Peeta will be able to explain to them why I had to do it.

The first day of training has me absolutely exhausted, I'm the first one on the elevator up to my room. I get up to our apartment I shuffle out of the elevator, not even stopping for food on the way to my room, and for a district 12 resident not getting food that is free and available means you are drop dead tired. I open the door to my room to discover that the bed is perfectly made and all the things that I had left on the floor this morning were put neatly away. I slip off my shoes and slide onto the bed. "Ahhhh." I sigh. It feels so nice just to lay here in the peace and quiet. "Oleander, you have to come out here and eat, also Haymitch needs to speak with you." she calls in her high pitch. Great. So much for peace and quiet. I flop off of my bed and walk into the dining room, ever so gracefully slumping down in the chair and resting my head on the table with a "thud". "Tired sweetheart?" mocks Haymitch. I look up from the table and glare at Haymitch, who puts his hands up in mock surrender. "Fine, fine I get the message." he says. "Anyway, I heard that you two," he states while pointing at Peeta and I with his fork, "have made some new friends." "Yea, the tributes from two. But its not going to work out." Haymitch lift an eyebrow with a questioning look. "Don't even Haymitch, you know exactly why it won't work, can I go now?" I ask him. "Yea yea sure, but I need to tell you one thing first. I know that your itching to get your hands on a bow, but remember that is your advantage and if you let other people know that, it could get you killed." He is right, I had to force myself not to go and train with the bows today. I look at him and nod, standing up from the table. I can see it in his eyes. What he said is to not let them know what I can do, but his eyes are telling me something completely different. They say don't let your guard down, you may have a new friend but don't let her know what you can do. I nod very discreetly again and go back to my room. Throwing off the training uniform I get in the shower. I don't want to be late again tomorrow. I slide on some black sweats and a dark green tank and climb into my bed. I'm situated and comfortable and then I let myself think. "I wonder how Sally and Jace are. I hope mom is taking care of them, at least Gale is there to help." The more I think of my family I love so much and the fact that I might never see them again, the more afraid I get. I'm not going to let my fear make me weak though, my fear drives me to push myself harder in training tomorrow and to be stronger than ever. I fall asleep with this thought and my family's smiling faces in my mind.


	6. Chapter 6 -Mia POV-

Chapter 6

I wake up in a p_anic. _Where am I? I sigh and remember that I am at the capitol getting ready for the hunger games. I stand up and get in the shower and stare at the wall of buttons, hoping that I don't press a wrong button and do something horrible to myself. Luckily I press a good button that sprays me with soap that smells like cinnamon and vanilla. When I get out of the shower, I run my fingers over my short hair in obvious frustration as I think about what I will have to do in the next few days. Walking back into my room I see the training outfit that every tribute wears. I slip on the skin tight spandex pants and long sleeve shirt with a number to on the top of each sleeve. As I walk out of my room I notice that there is more food on this table then there is in my home all year. Disgust fills my soul at the thoughts that all of these capitol people having too much food and all of the districts having little to none. I grab a piece of toast and some coffee and wait for Cato to join me. After another 5mins he walks out of his room wearing the same outfit as me, although his is bigger and more revealing of his muscles.. "If I didn't know any better I would say we were twins." I smirk at him as he chuckles. "Come on we need to go before we are late." He replies.

We walk to the elevator and press the down button so we can head to training. The elevator dings and when it opens I see a girl in it. She looks to be my age with collarbone length dark brown hair and blue eyes. Like most other people she is taller than me by at least 2 or 3 inches. We silently enter the elevator and Cato reaches over and presses the button for the main floor. Once he presses it he leans back against the wall. I look over at the girl in front of me and decided to break the ice. "My name is Chromia by the way, what's yours?" She looks at me as if I am delusional. "I thought you careers cared more about district numbers than names" she says bitingly. "Yea well Mia is different than most careers." I look over at Cato and stick my tongue out at him playfully. "My name is Oleander Evanthe but you can call me Ander" She sounds slightly amused. "Nice to meet you Ander" I point over to Cato with my thumb."This guy over here is Cato. We are from District 2." She looks over at Cato and I notice that he is glaring at her again. I softly chuckle win she wins another one of the glaring contests they have. I watch as she rolls her eyes at Cato and turns back to me. "Nice to meet you Chromia" and she walks out of the elevator over to the ring of tributes. I think I might like her.

As Cato and I walk to the ring of tributes I start to take notice of the other tributes and size them up. I look over at Ander and her fellow district member. He's tall and built, with short blonde hair and warm caring blue eyes. He looks up and our eyes connect. I watch as he looks me up and down as if he is sizing me up or checking me out, and for some reason I wouldn't mind which scares me because normally I hate it when guys do that. When is eyes come back to mine I see something in his eyes but before I can try to place it the instructor steps up. "In 2 weeks 23 of you will be dead and only one of you alive how you spend your time training could be the difference between life and death, so I suggest you use it well." Somebody is in a terrible mood. I look around at where everyone is going but before I can decide myself Glimmer and Marvel walk up to me. "Hey we are going over to the swords, want to join?" I look at her and I make sure she can see my face. "Look Glimmer let's get something straight here, we aren't friends and I don't want to train with you. Her face gets red "Well…maybe I-""Leave me alone Glimmer, or you will regret it." I walk away from her to the sword station. While on my way I hear Ander and her fellow tribute arguing about which station to go to. I notice that shortly after I make it to the sword station Ander is also coming over here and is bringing her friend. I am very surprised that they are coming over here, most people tend to shy away from any station where careers go. This girl has got some guts.

"Hey Chromia" I turn away from the swords and smile "Hi Ander" "Chromia this is my District partner Peeta." I look up at into Peeta's eyes and suddenly I am captivated by the warm in them. While shaking my head slightly to get those thoughts out of my head and stick my hand out for him to shake. I don't even realize I'm smiling until it grows a little wider when his hand shakes mine; its as if a spark shot through me when we touched and I can't help but to wonder what its for. We are introducing ourselves when Peeta asks a question and before Ander can answer Marvel says "What are these rats doing over here? This is where we train." And he gestures to himself, Glimmer, Cato, and me. "Oh I guess I missed the arrogance Jerks only sign." I notice that she is snarling and I reach over to pick up a sword just in case. "We came over here to learn how to use a sword, now you can either get out of my way, or I can use you as the new practice dummy." I am trying so hard not to laugh at the look one Glimmers face. I hear Marvel mutter something about killing Ander first and my hand tightens around my sword. I look at Ander "You probably shouldn't have done that." "Well," she says "next time he should treat us with a little more respect, I'm not going to let him walk all over me, I don't give a crap what district he is from." My eyes widen slightly and my smile widens, its nice to know that someone else is willing to stand up to the careers. "I like you." I say matter of factly. She laughs"Thanks, I like you too." I silently watch as she looks at the swords, from the way she looks at them it seems as if she is unfamiliar about which to choose. I turn away and gently hold my own sword and close my eyes. The warm weight of the handle settles in my hands and relaxes me. I am broken out of my trance by the sound of a hacking sword. I turn back towards Anders and she that she is effectively chopping off the limbs of the dummy. I am surprised at how good she is when she slices the head of the dummy in one smooth motion. "Wow, you're not half bad Ander. Have you ever used one before this?" "No." I am surprised at how well she handled the sword on her first try. "Oh ok, well if you would adjusts your stance like this," I move into the correct sword stance. "then use more power from your shoulder instead of your elbow you will be even better." "Chromi-" She begins "Just call me Mia." I say while grinning. "ok Mia," I can tell she is hesitant. "why did you just help me, we are going to have to fight to the death and my being able to effectively use a sword could cost you your life." I look at her and I know that she is telling me the truth but that she is glad I told her how to properly stand. "well I don't really care, I like you. you actually stand up for yourself and don't let people push you around because you are from District 12." I say shyly. I would like to be her and Peeta's friend but I don't want to mess it up. "You're pretty strong yourself." She complements me back. "it takes a lot of guts to give your enemy advice, even though I don't really want to think of you as my enemy. In a different world , I think you and me would be friends. In fact, we are. I'm not going to keep the games from letting me do what I want to do and be friends with someone that I like." I feel so grateful and happy that she said that. I'm sure I'm grinning like an idiot but for me it's a big deal the only person who wanted to be my friend back home was Cato. "Friends?" "Friends" and I watch as she smiles while we shake on it. I am happy that we are friends, I always had a hard time making friends in district 2.

We both decide to stay in the sword area for now and I watch as Peeta picks up a sword but I can tell that he is struggling with how to use is effectively. "Hey, do you mind if I help?" I reach my hand out to him. He stares at it and for a second I can see that he wants to reject my offer but he nods slowly and hands me the sword. "Umm, well first off you might have picked a sword that's too heavy. You need to think of the sword as an extension of your arms and how well would your arms work if your hands were too heavy." I smiles sheepishly at me "That makes sense." I smile and pick up the next heaviest sword. "Here, try this one and stand with one foot slightly in front of the other." He nods and quickly moves himself into the stance. I watch as he quickly slices and jabs at the dummy in front of him. "Its not all about strength, Peeta. If you waste all of your strength and energy on attacking how do you plan on defending yourself?" He looks up at me and says "If they don't have a chance to attack then I don't need it." He then grins at me and chops away. I laugh and turn away so I can start to practice on something. I look at the swords and decided not to work with them, I have practiced my how life with swords and knives and now I want to learn something new. I take a quick look around and walk over to the camouflage section. There are some leaves and a net along with some paints. I look around the training center and see some fake trees. I look back at the net and leaves and decide to create a blanket made of leaves so I can hide within the trees. I quickly start to work on weaving the leaves into the net. After 10mins I have almost half of it done. "Wow that looks pretty authentic." I jump in the air and grab my chest. "Peeta! You scared me!" and I lightly smack his shoulder while he laughs at my reaction. I sit back down in my seat while leaving some room for him to sit down beside me. As he sits down he picks up some leaves and starts to weave them with me. "So, why exactly are you doing this?" I look up into his eyes and I can tell he is honestly curious. "Well once I finish weaving the leaves into this net I can use it as a blanket of sorts and ill still have room to move if need be." He stares at the net and looks lost in thought so I don't bother him. After a few seconds he looks back at me and says. "I could work but the only problem is the color of the rope, its light enough to stand out in the fake trees in here." "I know, I plan on paining the rope a dark green color so it will blend." He grins "You only said that so I wouldn't be right." I laugh "No I really thought of that!" He pokes my side which causes me to giggle. "Did you just- I just made you giggle? Didn't I?" I fake glare at him "No you didn't I just..coughed." "Oh so if I were to poke you again you wouldn't giggle?" "Nope" I say with a faulty grin. "Well in that case.." The next thing I know he is poking my sides and I'm giggling like a school girl. Suddenly the poking turns into tickling. "Mercy! I call Mercy!" He laughs and let's go of my sides. My face is flush from the lack of oxygen and I am trying to catch my breath. He lifts up my face. "Hey are you okay?" I don't get the chance to answer because my breath is caught in my throat and I'm lost in his eyes. I take in a deep breath and answer with a soft, "yes." All the while my eyes never leave his.

"Listen here!" My head turns away from Peeta's captivating eyes and I look towards the knot station. I watch as Ander and Cato argue about god knows what. Peeta mumbles. "This isn't going to be good." We watch as Ander and Cato get toe to toe with each other. "You need to get your head out of your butt and actually consider what you are saying. I have more experience hunting than you could even wish to have. You have absolutely no room to scrutinize my snare when yours looks like a 5 year old made it." I look at Ander with worry and watch as Ander takes a step closer to Cato. "And I'm sick and freaking tired of your little glares that you constantly give me! I haven't done anything to you!" I know from the face that Cato makes that he is about to blow. "Your snare is completely wrong from what the instructor told us to do and also the glares are because your pure existence irritates me." He spits. We watch as Ander stalks away from him to go the knife station.

"Do you want to talk to Ander?" I ask Peeta. He looks at me and nods. "I'll talk to Cato and maybe we can resolve this by lunch." "I hope so; I was looking forward to poking you." I blush and smile at him. "Wouldn't you like that?" I sarcastically reply. I watch as he gives me a big grin and nods. I get up and walk over to the knot station to talk to Cato. I can tell as I walk up that he is still angry and frustrated from the shouting match. I sit down next to Cato. "Why are you so angry with Ander?" Cato looks up at me from his seat. "I don't know, she is just so frustrating! When I first looked at her, during the parade, I wasn't glaring I was just looking and trying to understand their costume. When she looked up at me I think she mistook my look for judgment against her. Ever since then I have been trying to figure her out." I can tell by the look on his face that he regrets what he said to her. "Maybe you went about this the wrong way." "Yea I think I did." "I'm going to talk to her and explain why you acted the way you did. Why don't you think of a good apology." "Thanks Mia." I pat him on the back as I walk to the knife area.

"Hey, can I talk to you Anders?" "Sure" I notice that she doesn't plan on moving from where she watches as the instructor throws knifes at the targets. "I know that Cato said a lot of stuff and has been looking at you but I would like to explain Cato and his mindset. Cato has a bad habit of looking angry. When he was first looking at you he wasn't trying to glare at you but he was just confused by your costume. You confuse him more than anyone he has ever met. I think that you might have mistaken how he was watching you as a glare but it was just Cato's thinking face." She looks confused and asks. "Then why did he say that he was glaring at me because my existence angered him?" "Cato is kind of a rage head, especially when he is confused. When Cato gets angry he says the first thing that comes to his mind even if he doesn't mean it." "Anders? Is it ok if I talk to you in private? Cato asks quietly."Sure" They both walk over to the camouflage area because it is the least crowded. I turn around and hope for the best out of my stubborn headed friends.

I watch the knife instructor and silently fume. She is horrible! Her technique is worse than mine when I was 5. "Now would anyone like to come up here to see if they can try?" I grin to myself at the chance, but before I can walk up Peeta grabs my arm and keeps me from going. "Peeta, what are you doing?" "Keeping your talent hidden. Do you really want everyone to know how strong you are, you would become the number one target for every tribute." "Shouldn't you want that?" I can see the inner turmoil on Peeta's face. "I know, but I don't want you to get hurt. Haymitch told use to hide our strengths until we are ranked." "Good idea, thanks." He grins and says. "You're welcome"

The lunch bell goes off and Peeta and I drop our knives and head towards the tables. While walking up I notice that the careers have taken a whole table for themselves while all the other tributes are scattered within the 2nd table and the last table is empty so I pull Peeta by his sleeve to the empty table. I see Ander and Cato walking towards us and they both look happy. Ander has a rare smile on her face and Cato looks dare I say calm. "Well it looks like they made up, doesn't it." "I know!" "I'm glad we can all get along so well. Maybe we can team up for the games?" I run my fingers through my hair. "I'm up for it but we have to check with those too." I say while jabbing my thumb in Cato and Ander's direction. "Check with us about what?" They both slide into the seats across from us and grab some food. "Well, I was wondering if you guys would want to team up for the games." I say curiously. Suddenly Ander's face pales and her eyes mist over, but before I can ask what's wrong she face and eyes harden. "No." She picks her tray up and walks over to the next table. I stare at her as she walks away. "She won't team up with anyone," Peeta explains "her brother and sister rely on her for everything. She is all they have." Cato nods and says "I understand, I'm practically in the same boat." Peeta looks at me but I look away. "I'm not going to team up either then."He says quietly. I can't understand, we were supposed to be friends!" "Is that all this is to you Chromia? A fun place to make friends?" Cato yells angrily. I don't answer because I realize that it has become that for me. I never planned on surviving the games so why not, but I realize now that everyone else wants to win. "I'll take your silence as a yes. I won't partner up with you anymore Chromia, it's obvious that you don't care about the games and if you survive them." I feel the tears well up from his harsh words. Of course I care if I survive but I have to be realistic, I won't kill Cato and even I could I have no one once the games are over. "OK Cato," I glance at him. "Peeta good luck you guys." I don't even bother picking up my lunch. I walk over the knife station and grab the 2 knives that feel the closest to mine at home. Once I find them I walk into the simulator room and shut the door to signal the start. I don't leave the simulator until the final bell rings to let us know that training is over for the day.

I slowly make my way to the elevators and by the time I get there I am alone in the training center. "Always alone." I softly mumble to myself. I get on the next elevator and walk to my suite. Once inside I walk straight to my room without looking at anyone. When the door closes I finally let the walls fall down and its all I can do to hold in the sobs that are threatening to escape my mouth. I remember the harsh words and the false hope that came with today's training. I shake my head and force myself to control my emotions, just like I have done every day before I was reaped into the games. I pick myself up off of the floor and head into the bathroom for a quick shower. I avoid the mirror because I don't think I can take looking at the pathetic person I have become. What happened to the girl who didn't care what people thought? For one who used to be so strong you sure have fallen into weakness pretty fast. NO! I won't be weak, not any more. I will fight as hard as I can in the games to make sure Peeta, Ander, or Cato come out on top. Even if it means killing myself.


	7. Chapter 7 -Ander POV-

Chapter 7

I flutter open my eyelids. The sun is coming in from a window next to my bed and streaking across my face. So that's what woke me up. I stretch my arms up to loosen them out and then climb out of bed. I took a shower last night so I pick up the black training outfit that I see is laid out in a chair. I pull the top over my head and tug on my pants. Next are the shoes, I tuck my feet into some fuzzy socks then slide on and lace up my combat boots. I throw my hair into the usual ponytail as I head out of the room and into the kitchen. Peeta and Haymitch are sitting at the table eating, not saying a word. "Well what a lively bunch we are in the morning." I joke. Haymitch just grunts and Peeta doesn't even notice I said anything. I sigh. I walk over to the serving table and put some, what's it called again, oatmeal I think, into a bowl and then sit at the table. We continue our eating in silence, and before I know it its time to go down to the training room. I actually feel good considering I got some extra strength last night after thinking with my family. I am determined to push myself even harder today in order to be prepared for these stupid games. "Game," I think to myself and snort, "what kind of game requires you to die. Only in the capitol could they come up with something as sick as a glorified mass murdering." All these things are running through my head as I make it down to the training center. The rest of the training days go by in a blur with the exception of the gamemaker evaluation. I thought I had effectively screwed myself over with what I did, and in a way I have. I enter the evaluation area to find that all of the people who hold my life in their hands are too busy getting hammered to pay me any attention. I try to push through it, I show off my new found sword skills along with what I can do with a knife. Finally as the grand finale I shoot with the bow. I hit bulls eye after bulls eye and how do these piece of filth gamemakers reward me? By waving me off like a common fly. Of course my temper gets the better of me and I notice a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling just before head gamemaker Seneca Crane. Before I could blink twice I had already notched an arrow and sent it through the cord holding up the crystal masterpiece, it landed directly in front of Seneca and shattered into a million tiny pieces. They gave an 11 for it, just to put a bigger target on my back, as if Marble and Glitter or whatever their names are didn't want to kill me already. I push myself harder every day and train myself with the new weapons available. My swordsmanship is much better and even my knife throwing is deadly accurate now. Before I can even blink it is the day of the interviews. The realization hits me like a spear to the chest, "I might be dead in 24 hours." I'm frozen to the spot in the living room where I stand waiting for Cinna. _Stop, you can't afford to think like that. You have to make it home to your family. They can't survive without you._

I come back to reality just in time to be swooped away by the colorful flock of humans that I have come to know as my prep team. Once again I am plucked and shaved and waxed until my skin is red and raw. To add insult to injury they dip me in fowl smelling substances after I'm hairless. I am finally returned to the state of flawlessness that I was in for the tribute parade. Haymitch is trying to give me a "personality" for the interviews, but we all know the only personality I can pull off is sullen and hostile. So that's what we go with, it should work well considering I already punched a man in front of all of Panem. Effie is attempting at a lesson on how to walk in heels, but I am failing miserably. Cinna walks into the room just as I nearly topple over in the spiky death traps. "The lesson won't be necessary Effie, Ander will be wearing sandals tonight." Cinna tells her. Oh thank God for Cinna, I was ready to gouge out my eyes with the stupid shoes. I now sit in my room once again waiting for Cinna to bring me the work of art that I will wear tonight. He pulls the dress out of the bag and to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. The dress is just white silk. I slip it on and it still looks good, my makeup is dark and angular like it was for the parade, and my hair is in loose curls. Cinna walks over to me and clips a white Oleander into my hair, I smile at him. He then hands me black sandals that lace up to mid calf and I can't help but wonder how all of this ties together. I will just have to trust Cinna. I'm about to get in the elevator to head to the interview stage when he stops me, "Ander, when its timer for your interview I want you to walk to the very center of the stage and stand there, I can't tell you what will happen its a surprise. I nod my agreement, only questioning Cinna for a moment before deciding not to worry about it. We arrive at the stage and I notice that Peeta's outfit looks nothing like mine. He wears a black tux with the fake fire licking at his shirt cuffs and bow tie. It looks...good. I sit down next to him and give him a small smile, he returns it. The interviews are a blur, I don't remember a single one because I'm so nervous about mine. I'm sitting in my chair waiting when a peacekeeper taps my shoulder and motions me up, I obey. The tribute before me exits the stage and I walk out of the side entrance. I am instantly blinded by the lights but finally make my way to center stage. I stop and stand there. Nothing. Suddenly my dress burst into flames licking at my entire body. The fire eats away the white silk and the result is amazing. (if you want to see the dress on fire click the link morelikethis/artists/311240913?view_mode=2#/art/Dress-Fire-320474000?_sid=136dd58f )

The dress continues to burn as I make my way over to the seat that is provided next to the interviewer Ceaser Flickerman. His mouth hangs wide open, completely speechless. I probably look terrifying. With the angled makeup making my face look just as sharp as the weapons I use and my entire body engulfed in flames, and of course since I am sullen and vicious, I'm not smiling. My face is the same mask that I always use to mask any emotion. "wow Oleander, that is quite an outfit!" complements Ceaser. "Yes, its amazing, thanks to Cinna." I say. "Yes Cinna is quite the artist." he says. The rest of the interview is just a bunch of stupid questions about how I like the capitol and talk of how I decked that cameraman. That is until the last question. "So Oleander, your sister and brother must miss you dearly. What did you tell them when you said your goodbyes." Ceaser asks kindly. "I told them I would win, so that I can come back to them." I say with a determined tone. "And I'm sure you will try your hardest." Ceaser says fondly. I give a stern nod. The buzzer sounds signaling that my interview time is up, we stand and Ceaser lifts my hand into the air. "From district 12, Oleander Evanthe!" He practically screams, but he has to if he wants to be heard over the thundering applause and cheers of the audience. My dress still burns as I take my seat next to where Peeta was seated moments ago before he went on stage for his interview. Now that mine is over and my nerves are calm I can actually pay attention to one of my friend's interviews. Peeta being his charming and amiable self has the crowd roaring in laughter. I actually smirk a bit when they talk about the showers and sniff each other. The buzzer goes off and Peeta exits the stage grinning broadly, he is obviously happy about how his interview went. I walk over to the elevator and step in to find it empty, the glow from my dress being thrown in every direction. Just as the elevator door is about to close shut a hand shoots through the slit between them and they open up to reveal Cato. He shuffles inside and the doors close. The light form my smoldering dress is intensified as I bounces off of Cato's suit that looks to be metallic. He looks over at me, taking in each inch of Cinna masterpiece. I look up at him and ice meets warm waters once again. "It suits you," he says quietly. "Its like your fiery personality burned through the dress." he smirks. I smile and look down and notice my hands are shaking, still jittery from the interview. Cato leans closer and whispers "did you know that they keep the training room unlocked at night?" he then pulls back and resumes his upright position with a smirk plastered on his face. I give a nod of thanks as the elevator doors open to reveal the district 2 floor. He steps out but not before returning my nod. The doors close and the elevator continues up to my floor. I quickly dress in black cargo pants, a dark green tank top and combat boots. I fly out of my room and into the elevator as fast as I can. To say I'm eager to shoot a bow is the understatement of the century. I silently pull open the door to the training center once I get off the elevator. There it sits, the bow I have been itching to get my hands on. You could hardly call any of the shooting I did for the gamemakers practice. I snatch the bow and a quiver of arrows off of the rack and line up in the archery station. I notch an arrow swiftly and within seconds it is lodged in the center of the target. I repeat this process over and over again and finally stop when I am out of arrows. Feeling satisfied, I put the weapon away and get into the elevator. The doors close and its speeding upwards when it slows to a stop on the floor of district 2. The doors slide open and Mia walks in. She is still my friend but things are a little awkward since I rejected the alliance offer, Peeta also told me that after I left she and Cato had a bit of a falling out. I look at her as we make our way up, I truly feel bad for rejecting her offer but I had to do it, the least I could do now is apologize. "Mia, I'm really sorry about rejecting the alliance offer.'" she turns and looks at me. "Your my friend and so is Peeta, and Cato, well he's Cato," she laughs and so do I. "Anyway I wish I didn't have to do this I feel terrible abou-" Mia cuts me off. "Its fine I completely understand, your family needs you." I look into her eyes to try and decipher if she is being truthful, but I see something strange. Where a mischievous sparkle used to be there is now something deep and powerful, something I could recognize as sheer determination. I give her a quick hug which she returns then I exit the elevator. I'm now exhausted, but that doesn't stop me from wondering what Mia is so determined to do. I ponder this as I shuffle back to my room and shimmy under the covers. Eventually I fall into a fitful sleep full of mutts, the games, and dying fathers.


	8. Chapter 8 -Mia POV-

Chapter 8

Over the next training day I spend all my time honing in any skill I might need in the games. I block out everyone but the simulators and instructors. I don't look at any of the people I thought of as friends, I know how I would crumble if I did. Finally the day comes were we go in so we can be scored by the gamesmen. As soon as I walk in a slip into my meditation position and wait for the bell. Once it rings I stand up and flick off the men as I walk out. Before I know it it's the day for interviews and Shimmer and her crew are putting on my make-up and plucking any stray hairs that came back. While they put on the finishing touches Brutus is telling me to play my illusiveness to my advantage during the interviews. I don't pay attention to the interviews for district 1 or for Cato. I wait until the peacekeeper tells me I can go. When I walk on stage my light blue dress sparkles when it hits the lights. I softly sit down next to Caesar Flickerman. I throw obvious answers out to most questions until the last one. "Now Chromia, we know that back at home you live with your mother and sister. What was the last thing you told them before you had to leave?" I sigh as I remember how I yelled at my mother for loving my sister more than me. "I told them that one day I would see them again." Caesar smiles and says "Chromia Basanite Everybody!" I give the crowd a small smile and walk to the exit. I ignore the rest of the interviews until it comes up to District 12. I watch as Ander's dress becomes what looks like flames itself. She answers the questions with the same vagueness that I did, but when Caesar asks about her brother and sister her face hardens and she says "I told them I would win, so that I could come back to them." He nods and says something but all I can think about is my mother and sister. When I look up again Caesar is midway through Peeta's interview. I can help but to notice how good he looks in his black tux with flames on the sleeves and tie. Everyone loves him and it's not too surprising since he is a really great guy. Once the interview ends I quickly walk to the nearest elevator so I can go change. I run into my suite and throw on a white v-neck shirt and a pair of dark wash jegging jeans.

After I change I lay on my bed and wait until I hear the doors to the other rooms shut. I sprint out of the suite before Cato or Brutus can hear me and tell me to stop and press the up button on the elevator. While I wait I think about the 2nd night here when I couldn't sleep so I started to roam around the building. I got on the elevator and pressed all of the floor buttons to go down and once I got to the bottom floor I hit all the floor buttons and went back up. When I got to the 12th floor I went to hit the big glowing 2 button so I could try and get some sleep before I had to get up tomorrow. But before I could the doors closed again and I felt the elevator go up one more floor. I look back at all of the buttons and I notice a blank button located on top of the others. I look over at the doors and watch as they open up to the roof of the building. Ever since that night I have gone up there to clear my head before getting some sleep. I hear the ding from the elevator letting me know that my ride is here. When the doors open I notice that Ander is inside. I quickly slide into the elevator. Some part of me, a very small part, hopes that she won't say anything to me and I can go up to the roof to clear my head one last time before I enter the games. "Mia, I'm really sorry about rejecting the alliance offer." I turn towards her and look her face to face for the first time since she said no. "You are my friend," she says. "and so is Peeta and Cato, well..He's Cato," We both laugh at her comment and the meaning behind it. "Anyway I wish I didn't have to do this, I feel terrible abou-" "Its fine I completely understand, your family needs you." I watch her as she looks into my eyes, I can tell she I trying to decipher my inner turmoil. I see her eyes widen at something she finds in my own. She gives me a quick hug which I return then she exits the elevator. I ride the rest of the way to the top and once I get there I feel my head start to clear and I lose all track of time. I eventually go back to my suite and pass out. And for the first time in years my sleep isn't full of anger and past mistakes.


	9. Chapter 9 -Ander POV-

Chapter 9

I wake up, today...I could die. I have accepted that I could die, but I don't plan on giving up on my myself and by extension my family so easily. I put on my strong mask before I even put on my clothes. I walk out of my room and sit down at the kitchen table with Haymitch, Peeta and Cinna. No one speaks, Haymitch has already given us the directions we will need to survive our time in the arena, however short it may be. We finish breakfast and then go out to the hovercrafts that will take us to the last place we may ever see. The arena. Haymitch stands with me before we load the hovercraft giving me last minute advice. Then he does something that surprises me. He gives me a hug. "You can do this. "he says to me. "I sure hope so." I reply before walking onto the hovercraft and taking my seat. A lady dressed in white comes around to each tribute and injects a tracker deep in our arms. The engines of the hovercraft start and I feel a pulling down on my body as it lifts into the air. The windows black out so that we can't see where the arena is, and we begin our journey to the arms of death. After about thirty minutes the hovercraft lands and we are escorted to the catacombs of the arena where we will dress. I step inside and go straight to Cinna's arms, he hugs me tight knowing how nervous I am. He dresses me in the black cargo pants, black combat boots, and black t-shirt. He hands me a dark green jacket made of some kind of slick material. "Its thermal, so be prepared for some cold nights." he says. I nod my head. "thirty seconds." a female voice comes over the intercom signaling that it is time for the tributes to step into the glass cylinders that lift them into the arena. I climb onto the metal plate just as the voice comes back on. "ten seconds." it says. "You can do this Ander, I know you will be the victor." Cinna says just as the glass comes down around me. Deep breaths. You are a hunter, you can do this. You will come home to your family. These things run through my head as the plate lifts me into the arena. I come up out of the ground and at first my eyes are blinded by the intense light. Then relief flows through my body. The arena looks like my woods at home, with the exception of the lake to the left of the cornucopia and field of tall grass behind it. I look around at the other tributes, I spot Peeta first and look at him, he shakes his head no. I know what he means, he is trying to tell me not to go to the cornucopia, but I will. I look away from him and next see Mia, I give her a small sad smile and she returns it. Lastly I spot Cato, he gives me a reassuring nod and I return it. I turn my attention to the countdown above the cornucopia 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. My legs take off toward the items my eyes were locked in on for the last ten seconds. A silver bowl with two sheaths of arrows and a sword perfect for my size. I'm sprinting so hard I feel like I'm flying. I arrive at the cornucopia and snatch my weapons up just in time to realize that the district 3 tributes are running towards me. I won't have time to recollect my precious arrows so I unsheathe my sword. I make quick work of killing the two tributes. I grab the girls pack and begin to run off to the woods. Thankfully Marvel and Glimmer were distracted at the moment with torturing some of the weak tributes. I'm sprinting deeper into the woods, actually trying to follow Haymitch's advice and find water. I have been hiking around the arena for nearly an hour and still have found no water. I sit down on a fallen tree and begin to sort through the things I got from the bloodbath. In the backpack I find some rope, dried meat, a empty water canteen, iodine to purify water ( if I ever find it) and a sleeping bag. Along with this I also have a sword, I tie the sheath that it rests in to my belt. Last but not least I have the key to my survival, my bow and arrows. I sling the two quivers of arrows across my back followed by my bow. I finish going through my things when the first cannon sounds, followed by thirteen others. 14. 14 innocent lives taken in a matter of hours, and I took two of them personally. I feel disgusted with myself. I let them turn me into something I'm not. A murder. But I still have to get home to my family. I can't dwell on these things and become distracted. Looking around the area I'm resting in I find a large tree that is well concealed in a clump of other trees. I decide that this is where I will sleep for the night considering it is already getting dark. I climb up the tree and strap myself to a sturdy limb with the rope in my backpack. I realize now how thirsty I am, I haven't had water for hours and have been running consistently. Well this could be a problem. The first thing I will do in the morning is search for water and hunt. I am nearly asleep when the anthem plays and the faces of the dead tributes appear in the sky. I am thankful to see that none of my friends have died, today. There is a rustling noise to the left. I immediately pin myself to the back of the tree and sit as silently as I can. "I'm telling you," Marvel says to Glimmer, "when I find her I'm gonna kill her slowly and painfully, that way she knows who is in charge around here!" Glimmer snickers. I assume they are talking about me. They continue walking and I let out a sigh of relief. A few minutes later I hear a scream, I know now that the Careers have found what they were looking for. I slowly nod off to sleep, only thinking of my family, plans for tomorrow, and how dry my throat is.


	10. Chapter 10 -Mia POV-

Chapter 10

I wake up the day of the games calm and rested. As I lay in my bed I think about what Brutus told me so I could survive the blood bath at the cornucopia. "Get knives as soon as you can and run. You are skilled at hiding so use that to your advantage." I throw on the arena outfit that is laid out for me and slip on my combat boots. While walking out of my room I see Cato going over last minute plans with Brutus, but I don't bother going to talk to either of them. When they finish Brutus leads us to the hovercraft. We walk outside to the hovercraft that will take us to the final room before the games start. Once I touch the latter I am paralyzed to the spot. A woman with a giant needle, she sticks it into my right arm and I watch as she inserts a small square in my arm. "It's a tracker so the gamekeeper can find you." When she finishes I am able to move again and I slowly climb into the hovercraft. I find a seat and close my eyes. After about 5mins the hovercraft lands and each tribute is lead to separate rooms. Not long after I am lead into the room Shimmer enters with a sad smile. "Hey Mia, how are you feeling?" "Ready for this anticipation to be over." She laughs slightly. "Here let me show you the different qualities your outfit has. This thermal jacket holds in heat once you zip it up, so you can stay warm at night. Your black cargo pants have small zippers in the middle of your thigh, this allows you to make them shorts if it's hot but you still have the legs for if it's cold." "Wow, thanks Shimmer that will come in handy." "Good luck out there Chromia." I nod in thanks and step on the platform that will raise me up to start the games.

"**The 74****th**** annual Hunger Games will start in 30..29..28..27.."** I mentally count down with him as I rise up on my platform. When I get to the top I immediately look at my surroundings. It's a giant forest surrounding the cornucopia. I look inside the cornucopia and see a pair of knives with a belt and a backpack close by. I close my eyes and breathe while thinking about the best way to get my supplies. When I open my eyes I see that Cato is looking at me. "**10..9" **I look to my left and I see Ander, we make I contact and nod at each other. I frantically look for Peeta and when I find him I can't help but to look into the warm blue eyes that have captured my attention since we first met. "**5..4"** Peeta is looking at me with fear in his eyes. "**3..2"** I let a single tear run down my face."**..1 BOOOM"** I sprint as fast as I can to the knives and the backpack. I slip the belt over my shoulder while taking a knife out and throw the backpack on as fast as I can. When I turn around to run away I quickly see at Peeta, Ander and Cato all have their weapon of choice and are heading out too. Before I can leave a tribute from District 6 is grabbing at my back and trying to steal my things. I throw her over my shoulder and stab her in the stomach with the knife in my right hand. Before I can be attacked again I run to the outlying forest for shelter. After a few minutes of running I slow down and start to look for a good shelter to stay in. On my left there is a giant tree with close branches perfect for sitting and sleeping. I grab both of my knives and use them to reach the closet branch so I can climb to the spot I found. I test it out and find that it is a perfect fit for my petite body frame. I make myself comfortable and pull off the backpack I got to check the contents. Inside are a sleeping bag, a canteen, some flint, and some rope. I decided against lighting a fire so I put the flint back into the bag. I open the canteen and find it full of water, I take a couple of sips but I determine that it would be better to save most of it until I can find another source of water. While looking over the sleeping bag I unzip it and lay it across my body. I put the rope into my side pocket on my right thigh. With another look around to make sure no one is in my vicinity, I slowly nod off into sleep.


	11. Chapter 11 -Ander POV-

Chapter 11

Waking up I have to remind myself where I am. I'm in the Hunger Games arena, not my woods at home where I feel safe. I half expected Gale to walk out of the dense foliage and ask me why I slept in a tree. I scurry down the giant oak with little to no enthusiasm, I can feel the effects of dehydration beginning to set in. Water. This is my mission today, I have to have water or I will die in the most cowardly way possible. I release a sigh, then set off on my way. I look for signs of water like wet moss or mud and find none after 45 minutes of relentless hiking. I am becoming dizzy and my tongue is like sandpaper. Ok Haymitch now would be a great time to send some water! Wait, if I needed water then he would send it. I must be close. I walk for another fifteen minutes when I see it, a perfect little spring bubbling up from the ground. I run over to it and kneel down, splashing my face with the water letting its cold fingers run down my face. I am severely tempted to just gulp it down but I know better than to do that. I put some water into my canteen which is a considerably good size and then put a couple drops of iodine in to purify it. I wait, and wait, and wait for what seems like forever since I am so thirsty. It is really only a few minutes. I pick up the canteen and drink a few sips, trying to pace myself. I finish off the bottle and then repeat the process of purifying it. I slide the bottle back into my pack. I look up at the sun and see that its mid afternoon. The perfect time for me to hunt. I take off my bow from around my body and load an arrow. I walk a few feet when I see a bird that I am not familiar with, I shoot it anyway. The arrow sails through the air and hits its mark, resting in the eyeball of the strange creature. I pick it up then clean and cook it over a small fire, taking my chances with being discovered. I would hate to die of a disease from undercooked game. It is now getting close to dark, there have been two cannons to go off today and I'm curious to see who has died, I hope its not one of my friends. I think about these things as I munch on the leg of the bird I killed, the rest of it rests in my backpack. I spot a tree that can easily hold my weight and scurry up. I once again tie myself into the tree and wait for the death toll. The anthem plays and faces appear, none of which I am connected to. I feel a bit on edge tonight, there has not been much action today, and I can just feel that the gamemakers are becoming impatient with our sedentary actions. There will surely be a cruel twist in due time.


	12. Chapter 12 -Mia POV-

Chapter 12

I wake up to the loud booms from the canons and a bright light coming from the sky that shows the faces of the tributes that died today. Once it ends I sigh in relieve that I didn't see Peeta, Ander, or Cato's faces. When the lights from the sky goes out its easy to see a small fire close by that must be a loner tribute. I shake my head in pity when I hear the screams from the girl who must have made the fire. The boom from the canon signals her demise. I stay up afterwards to make sure that they don't come anywhere near my spot in the trees. After I'm sure that they are away from me I lay my head against the tree to get some rest. In the morning, I pack up all of my stuff so I can go search for some food and water. Before I leave I put a mark on the tree so I can find it again if I need to. I start my trek by going to the left, away from where the girl was killed last night. I walk around for a few minutes before I some across a small stream with clear water. I look around and find a big enough leaf to hold water and I begin to fill it up. Filling up 5 different leaves with the water, search for something to tie them together so my hands will be free. I end up using one of the steams that I got the leaves from. I tie all five closed and string them onto the steam. I use the belt that carries my knives to hook the steam onto my body from my belly button across my right side to my back. I gracefully pick myself up and start to walk when I hear a soft scratching sound. I pull out both of my knives and settle into a low crouching position so I am ready for any attack. I almost burst out laughing when a bunny jumps out of the nearby bushes. "I am sorry little bunny but I need to eat." The bunny gives me and odd look but before it can run I throw my knife at its head and effectively kill it. I pull the knife out of its head and pick the bunny up. I move into a more secluded area so I won't be seen as I clean and cook my food.

I go back to my spot in the trees after cooking my food. I make it back into my spot just in time for the final announcements in the sky. When they finish I grab a small piece of my rabbit meat and eat it with a small swig of water and look for the faces of my friends in the sky. Thankfully they are all still alive. Eventually I untie the leaves full of water and string them across two limbs out of sight from any passerby. Slowly I nod off into sleep with a full belly. The next day is spent sitting in my tree munching on small pieces of rabbit and savoring my water. This hiding place is nice but I know that I can stay here much longer or the gamemakers will force me out. I decide to leave this spot for a new one come morning. As soon as I wake up I roll up my sleeping bag and retie my leaves full of water to my belt. My only thought right now is too keep moving until I can find another safe place to stay. As I walk I look high and low for any safe harbor. Before I am able to find one I see smoke and smell burning wood. Only a few feet further do I realize that the forest is on fire. I immediately run in the opposite direction so I won't get caught up into the flames. While running I notice that the flames are in a giant circle and its slowly closing in on one area. "They are forcing us together." I rasp. I push myself to run as fast as I can. When I burst through a set of bushes I see that Peeta, Cato, and Ander are also here at this small spring. This doesn't make sense, why would they push the four of us together. They know that we won't kill each other. I turn back towards the others and notice that Ander has an arrow on her bow. Is she planning on killing us? Before I can ask her what she is doing Marvel flies out of nowhere and throws his spear. Ander quickly shoots him down but Peeta has been hit. She runs over to protect him and Cato and I circle around waiting for the next attack that is sure to come from Glimmer. I soft rustle from nearby bushes indicate her location and a sword barrels towards Anders chest. She dodges the attack and fires another arrow at Glimmer's location. Thinking she is dead I focus my attention on Peeta and how to heal his leg. Searing pain runs through my right shoulder and I feel the warmth of my blood slowly soak my right side. I wobble on my feet and fall to my knees. I look up and see that Ander is rushing towards me with a scared look on her face. Peeta is frantically crawling towards me and Cato stares at my shoulder with a stunned look. I let a tear fall from my eye. "Goodbye." And everything goes black.


	13. Chapter 13 -Ander POV-

Chapter 13

I wake up to a burning sensation in my lungs and heat all around me, I'm immediately alert and realize that I am surrounded by fire. I shove all of my things into the pack and scramble down the tree. I'm half way down when I lose my footing and plummet to the ground. I land with striking impact on my back, sending a tingling through my spine. The adrenalin pumping through my veins allows me to stand and I full out sprint away from the flames licking at my heels. "Oh this is just hilarious!" I scream, "burn the girl with the fire dress." I continue running then completely stop in my tracks, there is another wall of fire right in front of me. I take a split second to scan the area and then realize that there is a giant circle of fire burning around me. I know what they are doing now. The gamemakers are pushing me and any other tributes in this circle of fire towards the spring I found yesterday, and I have no choice but to run, its either that or be burnt alive. I sprint off towards the center of the circle as fast as I can, the flames licking at my calves. Finally I can see the spring. I run to the tree line around it and stop just as Mia, Peeta and Cato all come barreling out of the shrubs from different places from around the circle of flames. I walk out and stare at them. Something just isn't right about this, the gamemakers know that we won't want to kill each other. We are more likely to sit down and have a nice little chit chat than to do that. I pull my bow off of my back and notch an arrow in the blink of an eye, poised to fire at any sign of danger. My friends stare at me as if I have grown another head, they think I want to kill them. Before another thought can cross my mind I see Marvel lurch out of the thick tree line and I immediately send my arrow through his skull, but not before the spear he was holding can find its way into Peeta's leg. Peeta screams and drops to the ground, I sprint over to him and stand over him while whipping out another arrow and preparing to release. I hear a rustling from behind me where Cato and Mia stand. I spin around on the balls of my feet just in time to see a throwing knife headed straight for my chest, I quickly dodge it and fire my arrow into the bushes, earning a yelp from the assailant. Glimmer jumps from the bush and sends a knife right into Mia's shoulder just as Cato slices clean through her neck, her head drops to the ground. I should have known, where there is one career there is bound to be another lurking in the shadows. That one overlooked detail might just cost my friend her life. "Goodbye. Mia mutters.


	14. Chapter 14 -Mia POV-

Chapter 14

Flashes of memories .Mistakes. Lost chances. Regrets."Why can't you be more like your sister!" The memory of my mother screaming at me when I failed a test runs through my mind."I hate you!" My sister scornfully yelling at me when I get attention from the guy she likes. "No." Ander rejecting my offer of alliance for the games. "I won't partner up with you anymore Chromia, it's obvious that you don't care about the games and if you survive them." Cato's harsh words. Every memory I have pushed away. Rising. Clawing its way to the forefront of my unconscious mind. Every fear. Nightmare. Ander dead. Cato dead. Peeta dead.

"NO!" I throw my body into a sitting position. Blinding pain racks my body from the jerking movement. A strangled whisper escapes my throat. "Peeta" "Mia, its ok Peeta is safe. Here take this." I don't look at what Cato hands me it just gets thrown into my mouth and I sip the water he hands me. "Lay down Mia, you need to let your shoulder rest or it will never heal. I nod absentmindedly to his statement and I slowly turn myself until I am facing Peeta's body. I breathe a sigh of relieve when I see his chest slowly rise and fall. I place my hand against his chest and let his steady heart beat sooth my mind back to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15 -Ander POV-

Chapter 15

Peeta quickly tries to crawl towards Mia, Cato stands there with a stunned look on his face. I rush over to her just as she falls unconscious, Peeta scoops her into his lap. I look up at Cato who is still in some kind of shock. "Cato." I say, he does nothing. "Cato." I try again, still no response. "Cato!" I shout. Finally he looks over at me. "Come here." I direct him away from a barely conscious Peeta and a completely passed out Mia. He follows reluctantly. "What are we going to do?" I ask him. He looks at me questioningly. "Cato you and I both know that they won't last through the night." I say then look down at the ground. "I won't ever be able to get rid of the guilt of killing people I don't even know, but to leave people I love here to suffer and die just because that's what the capitol expects us to do," I sigh. "I couldn't bear to live with myself." I pull myself from the puddle of self pity I was wallowing in and straighten my back so I stand tall, my face contorts into a look of pure determination. "Either you're going to help me take care of them," I say in a strong voice, "or you're going to leave right now. I hate to say this but if you leave and we cross paths again I will have no other choice than to put an arrow through your eye." "and I never miss." I say in a deadly tone. Cato looks up from the ground he was staring so intently at and gives me a look. Its a weird look that no one has ever given me before and I can't exactly tell what it is. "Most of the time your way of thinking confuses the crap out of me," he begins, "but this time I completely understand what you are saying and I couldn't agree more." I give him a tiny smile. "Ok we have to get them out of this clearing." I say as I walk over to Peeta and Mia who are now both unconscious. "This is going to pose a challenge." I say with a sigh. "What?" Cato asks. "They are both knocked out for a couple of hours due to blood loss, and we will have to carry them now." I say. "Ok well let's focus on stopping the bleeding right now then we can figure out where to move them and how." Cato says thoughtfully. With the help of Cato I lay Mia on the ground beside Peeta. I have a small amount of skills in healing that I picked up from watching my mother heal miners that had more injuries than district 12 had starving people. I look at both wounds and decide that the best thing to do right now is to stop the bleeding and then find herbs to help ward off infection while we look for a safe place to stay. "Cato do you have a knife?" I ask turning to him. "Yea." he says. He pulls a knife out of the belt that hangs loosely around his waist, while watching him do this I truly notice that he is basically a human wall of muscle. I already knew he was pretty tall, I mean who wouldn't notice that, he stands at least a head taller than me. But now I see that there is not an inch of fat on this guy, he is pure deadly muscle and could no doubt snap my neck with a flick of his wrist. They must train them extremely hard in district 2. I pull out of my musings as Cato hands me his knife, I thanks him and then take off my jacket and make a slit in the side. I'm about to start ripping it to shreds when Cato interrupts. "What are you doing?" he asks completely stunned. His eyes are wide and he is staring at me like I'm insane. "Well we have to stop the bleeding with something." I say as I rip the first strip of fabric from the rest of the jacket. "Well yea but your gonna freeze without that." he says. "I will manage," I say then mutter, "I always do." He says nothing after that as I wrap our friend's wounds in the fabric which actually stops the blood flow quite well. I loop the jacket tightly around Mia's shoulder one last time then tie it in a double knot. I stand up and stretch out my limbs which are a bit cramped from being crouched down for a while. I stoop over and grab my sword and attach it back to my pants at the hip than grab my quiver of arrows and their matching bow and sling them over my shoulder. "Alright time to move." I say to Cato who was also gathering the weapons that lay strewn around the spring. He hands me Glimmer's knives and then grabs Marvles' spears. "I can carry them both." Cato says confidently. I give him a look that says "we both know they are too heavy no matter how muscular you are." he rolls his eyes at me in return. "You can take Peeta since he is heavier." I say. Cato just gives me a look. "Cato its not up for discussion, I'm carrying Mia and you get Peeta." I state. "But..." I start, "if you want to argue about we can stay here for a while. My father used to tell me I could argue with a brick wall. I mean you're no brick wall, but I'm willing to make an exception." I conclude with a smirk. He just huffs and gently hoists Peeta onto his shoulder. I collect Mia in my arms then lift her up as if she were a baby. "I think our best bet is to head down to the river." Cato says. "Ok well you will have to lead the way because the only bodies of water I have seen in this god forsaken arena are the lake and this spring." He chuckles and then starts off in a direction. I follow closely behind him, well aware of the fact that if we were ambushed at the moment I would not be able to get to any of my weapons quick enough. We travel for around an hour then I start to see mud and deep green moss, signs that we are close to water. We come through a big clump of bushes and I see the river that Cato was talking about. Its not a big river, but its not one you would want to be caught in the middle of. Its water is clear and I can see fish swimming around. Hmm maybe a future hunting opportunity. We walk along the bed of the river so that we cannot be tracked by the footprints we leave in the mud. We travel downstream for about twenty minutes when Cato suddenly stops, causing me to bump into his back and fall backwards onto my butt in the river with Mia's unconscious form sprawled out in my lap. Cato looks down with a horrified face, and I let out a small burst of laughter. He looks confused for a moment and then joins me in making fun of the sight before him. I collect myself and Mia off of the ground with a little help from Cato. "So what was so intriguing that you had to cause me to fall down." I question playfully. "I think that there is a cave over here." he says walking over to a big pile of boulders. The sight of tons of rock stacked against each other is not an uncommon sight in this area, so I didn't pay much mind to the small opening that I now see. I follow Cato over to it and he sets Peeta down. He slides in sideways because his shoulders are to broad to fit in normally, this makes me laugh a bit. "Come on in." he says as he reaches a hand out to help me through the entrance. Once inside I see a cave plenty big for four people to fit comfortably. We establish it as our new hideout. Cato passes the limp forms of our friends to me through the opening and I position each in a sleeping bag to keep them warm through the night till they wake up again. Cato and I also roll out or sleeping bags next to each other against a wall of the cave in such a way that we can both see out of the entrance to keep watch but not be seen from outside. I grab my backpack and take out the water bottle and go outside to refill it, seeing as though it was nearly empty. While outside I notice that night has fallen and the anthem of Panem blares through the arena. Marvel and Glimmer appear in the sky and I can't help but feel a bit guilty. I push the feeling away, the hunger games arena is not a place to sort out feelings. I walk back inside the cave and sit cross legged on my sleeping bag facing Cato who is now sorting through his supplies. I pull my backpack over to me and take out the leftover bird, which is a pretty decent amount. I divide the food up, making sure to give Cato more than myself, then walk over and sit down on his sleeping bag with him while handing him the meat. I had noticed a moment ago that there was no food in his pack and I'm sure he is hungry. He sees the meat and looks at me questioningly. "You don't have to do that, this was your kill you should eat it." he says pushing the food toward me. "No," I say stubbornly, "I want you to have it, you need food too, more than me actually." "Thanks." he says quietly. We eat our meal in comfortable silence and when we finish I volunteer to take first watch. "No." he says, "You gave me your food so you get to sleep first." After a minuet of arguing I reluctantly agree. I walk over to my sleeping bag and snuggle down in it, now aware of how cool the night has become. I still don't regret using my jacket to help Mia and Peeta though, I think to myself. "Goodnight Ander." Cato whispers. "G-night Cato." I yawn, now barely able to keep my eyes open. I then fall into a deep and restful sleep.


	16. Chapter 16 -Mia POV-

Chapter 16

A tingling sensation coming from my wound wakes me up. Just as I open my eyes to take a look at it I feel a warm hand against my cheek. My eyes flutter open only to be captivated by the pair of warm blue eyes that know are Peeta's. I see worry and something else swirling in his endless pool of blue. "I thought I lost you." He whispers softly as if he is afraid I might disappear. I raise my small hand and gently set it against his face. He closes his eyes at my touch, almost like he can't believe I'm here. "I'm right here Peeta and I'm not going anywhere." His eyes open with a look of fierce determination in them. "I love you." he says seriously and forcefully. Love that's the emotion swirling in his eyes that I couldn't figure out. I can still see it along with growing worry. I wonder the reason behind the worry when I realize that I haven't said it back yet and he must think that I don't feel the same. I grab his face and pull it towards mine. I softly kiss him on the lips to let him know that the feeling is mutual. I pull back from the kiss and brush my lips back and forth against his. After a few brushes of my lips against his he sets his hand on the back of my neck and crashes his lips to mine. I smirk into our kiss at his impatience. When the kiss softens I let my mouth roam towards his ear and give kisses to various places in between. When my mouth is next to his ear I stop and catch my breath. "I love you, too" He laughs softly and rests his head against my good shoulder. "I can tell." he chuckles. "Good, I'm glad you caught on." I say with a smirk. I see a blur to my left and realize that Ander is leaving the cave and Cato is playing with his sword. Peeta lifts his head up and gives me a quick kiss. "How is your shoulder?" He pulls my jacket and shirt back to look at it, the cut goes from my collarbone to the top of my shoulder. "It feels a lot better than when I first woke up." I state. "Good" he smiles softly at me. "How is your leg?" I pull back his cover to look over his wound. It's not as deep as I thought it might be and it's only as big as the middle of the spear head. "It's getting better. I might be able to walk in a day." Before I can respond the capitol music plays announcing that the gamemaker is about to speak. "Tributes, In light of recent events, there has been a rule change. There may now be two victors of the 74TH annual Hunger Games." Two victors! Thoughts race across my mind at the possibility. Cato can go home, Ander can see her family, or Peeta can live another day. I look up to see Cato staring at Peeta and me. He must think that we will team up together to both go home. I turn to see Peeta's wide blue eyes with thoughts racing around them about what might happen. No, I tell myself, you can't go with Peeta then you will be breaking your promise. I quickly pull myself out of Peeta's warm arms and run outside to Ander. She is sitting on a nearby rock with heartbreaking look on her face. "Ander I need you to listen to me!" She turns towards me with a startled look on her face. I look straight into her eyes and forcefully tell her. "You need to choose between Peeta and Cato." I take notice of her eyes widening and looking slightly behind me. "What about you Mia?" I glance behind me to see that Peeta is standing against a nearby tree with an angry look on his face. "What if I don't want to win without you?" He yells. "I won't let you decide to die here and force me to live everyday without you, knowing that I could have died with you! Cato and Ander can win, because I would rather die here with you than live the rest of my life without you." Tears roll down my face at the thought of Peeta dying.


	17. Chapter 17 -Ander POV-

Chapter 17

I wake up and instantly notice the pain in my back and cant for the life of me figure out why it hurts so bad. I sit up with a bit of a whimper as the pain grows, then it clicks, I bet its from when I fell out of that tree yesterday. Cato is giving me a funny look. "You alright?" he asks. "Yea my back just hurts pretty bad. I fell out of a tree yesterday trying to get away from the fire. Could you see if its bruised for me?" "yea, sure." he says. I get up and sit down in front of him, I lift up the back of my shirt just enough so that he can see the lower half of my spine. "My god Ander." he breaths. "There is a bruise the size of my head on your back." "Wow that must be one big bruise," I joke as I turn towards him, "because you have a ginormous head." I laugh and look at him. Cato's face is deeply serious and concerned look on his face, it must really be bad. "Don't worry." I tell him. "I have worked thorough injuries far worse than this." And that's the truth, I remember being attacked by a wild dog while hunting one day and not even skipping a beat in my normal routine. He just looks at me, not saying anything. "So how are Mia and Peeta?" I ask him, effectively changing the topic. "Mia actually woke up a little while ago," he says. "I gave her some water and a painkiller from my pack and she went back to sleep." "Oh that's good, I wonder when Peeta is going to wake up." I think out loud. I look around and just now notice something, its daylight. Cato let me sleep the entire night! I also notice that there is a silver tribute jacket about three sizes too big zipped up around me. This jacket could only belong to one person. "Cato!" I screech. He puts his head in his hands. "How could I possibly ever think that you wouldn't notice." he sighs. "You let me sleep all night long!" I scold him. I get up and force him to sit. "Cato Stone you get your butt in that sleeping bag and go to sleep right now or so help me I will kill you." I say in a mock threatening tone. "Yes mother." he teases. I roll my eyes and then remember about his jacket. I unzip it and hand it back to him. "Thanks." I say to him quietly. He pushes my hand with the jacket in it away. "keep it," he says kindly, "You need it, if I get cold I will just ask for it back." "You better." I say with a smile on my face as he closes his eyes with a smirk still plastered to his face.

I sit down on my sleeping bag and keep guard while Cato rests. I look around the cave and notice something strange, Mia is curled up against Peeta and has her hand resting on his chest. I can't help but smile because they both look so peaceful and cute together. I'm a little worried about all of the injuries our little group has acquired so far. Mia and Peeta's wounds are still not very good off, I wish there was something more I could do. Just then a beeping noise comes from outside and then there is the distinctive clank of metal against to rock. I draw my sword and cautiously make my way outside to find a parachute with the number 2 marked on it. I bend over to pick the sponsor gift up just as sounds of weapon against rock erupts from our little hideout. In a matter of seconds out pops a panicking Cato who obviously just woke from his nap. His hair is disheveled and his boots are not tied. He stands there with a look of terror, in a stance that suggests that he is ready to fight. I have to purse my lips to keep from giggling. Cato spots me and the look on his face eases, he drops the arm with his sword in it to his side, his body instantly relaxing. He walks briskly over to me and wraps me in his giant arms, squeezing me hard into his chest. "I woke up and you were gone." he says, "I thought that something bad had happened to you." "I'm fine," I say returning his hug, "I was keeping watch and a parachute landed out here, its for you and Mia." I state while retreating from his grasp and lifting the gift into the air for him to see. "What is it." he asks. "I'm not sure, I wasn't going to open it, its not mine." I hand it over to him and we walks over to the cave. I follow him in and we sit down, he undoes the parachute and reveals a small silver container, about the size of my fist. He opens it to reveal a slimy green substance with a strange smell. "What is that?" I question as I wrinkle my nose in disgust. "Its medicine for cuts and bruises, you've never used any of this before?" he says. I can tell he regrets it the minuet he says it, but its not his fault these things have always been available to him. "No, we don't get medicine like that in 12." I say quietly. With just a jar of that stuff I could keep so many people from dying in my district. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking when I said that." he says. "No its fine, its not your fault." and I'm right when I say that. It isn't his fault, its the capitols.

"Can I use that on Peeta too?" I ask.

"Of course, why wouldn't you?" he questions.

"Well its not a gift to 12, its a gift to 2."

"I would never say you guys couldn't use it." he scoots over to Peeta and places a glob on his leg rubbing it in. He then hands it to me and I rub it into Mia's wound, I hope this will keep infection away.

"Do you have any cuts?" I ask.

"Just one on my arm, could you get it for me." he lifts up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a nasty knife wound near the top of his arm. I rub a small amount of the medicine into it.

"All better?" I ask him.

"Yep, now your turn."

"I don't have any cuts."

"Yea but we can use it on the bruise on your back."

"No its fine. I hardly even notice it anymore." what I said is true, but I also don't want to waste such precious medicine.

"Come on Ander." he pleads.

"Really its OK, and I don't want to waste something so valuable on a stupid bruise." he cocks his head to the side giving me a questioning look.

"Ander, you are truly the most confusing person I have ever meet." he says with a small smile. I give him a smile back. We lean against the wall of the cave and just rest our eyes for a bit. All of the sudden I hear a rustling over where Mia and Peeta are. I see Peeta sit up quickly and presses his hand against Mia's cheek as if it were a life line. Mia blinks open her eyes, "I thought I lost you." Peeta mutters to her. She picks up her hand and presses it to his cheek, "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." Mia says to him. He opens his eyes and blurts out, "I love you." To say I am shocked is a bit of an understatement, my eyes grow wide. Then the least expected happens, they kiss. "I love you too." Mia says back to him. I turn and look at Cato, both of us with a sad expression on our faces. Cato and I think alike when it comes to some things, and we know that this love will be tragically short lived, because the capitol must only have one victor. I get up from my sleeping bag, just now being noticed by Peeta and Mia, and walk outside. "What am I doing," I think to myself. "I'm going to have either watch these people die or kill them myself and all I'm doing is getting more attached to them." I sit down on a large rock near the river, trying to sort out my thoughts when the sound of static cuts through the silence of the arena. "Tributes," comes Claudius Templesmith's voice over the speakers. "In light of recent events, there has been a rule change, there may now be two victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games." and with that the speakers cut out. Two victors. These words run through my head a thousand times before I am able to truly able to process what has happened, one of my friends will not have to die. But now I have an even more difficult decision to make, before they all would have died and there was nothing I could do to change that. But now I hold their lives in my hands, I can be the one to decide who lives. One of my best friends from district 12, my new friend who is kind and loyal, or the boy that I used to have glaring contests with that I have now learned to care for. I'm not sure that this rule change helps anything at all. I can't be doing this, I look weak and being weak will not let me win these games so that I can protect my family. I hear Mia run up to me. "Ander I need you to listen to me." she commands. "You need to choose between Peeta and Cato." just as she says this I see a furious Peeta standing in the background. "What about you Mia," Peeta nearly shouts, "what if I don't want to win without you, I won't let you decide to die here and force me to live without you, knowing that I could have died with you. Cato and Ander can win because I would rather die than live the rest of my life without you!" he finishes in a near scream. I can't take any more of this, it is going to destroy any more strength I have left. I put my mask back on making sure nobody noticed the cracks that formed during Peeta's outburst. "We need food." I say in a hard and detached tone, "I'm going hunting." and with that I grab my bow and walk away. Not once do I look back until I find a decent tree to sit and think in. I climb up and rest on the branch while leaning back against the trunk. How am I going to get out of this mess. I'm not naive person, I can connect the dots. That rule change was meant for Mia and Peeta, I mean it was issued right after they confessed their love for each other. I have no right to try and take advantage of it. I couldn't do it even if I wanted to. I will break away from our group tomorrow and finish off the remaining tributes, there are only a few left excluding us four. After that whatever happens, if Mia and Peeta go home so be it, if I die then that is just the inevitable, hopefully the people whom I love enough to place their lives before mine will manage to survive. I will try with all my strength to return to them, but sometimes all that you have just isn't enough.


	18. Chapter 18 -Mia POV-

Chapter 18

"We need food." Ander says. I look over at her to see that her mask of indifference is back on. "I'm going hunting." She states as she rapidly grabs her bow and walks away. Without looking at Peeta or Cato I start to make my way back to our hideout within the cave. Once I step inside I start to look for any of the left over rabbit I have for us to eat while we wait for Ander. I hear Peeta and Cato make their way back inside also. I hand Peeta some over the rabbit and he takes it without a word and starts to pace back and forth while chewing on it. Its obvious by the look on his face that he is deep in thought, but I know not to talk to him until he speaks to me first. We spend the next couple of hours in complete silence. After Ander is gone for two hours we hear the unmistakable boom from the canons. Cato jumps up and frantically runs his hands across his face. "What if that was for Ander?" He asks worriedly. "Cato you know Ander, she is fine." I say softly. "How do you know that? Even if it isn't her she could be hurt!" He growls angrily at me. It sounds as if he is blaming me for her leaving and the possibility of her getting hurt. "Fine," I say exasperatedly. "If she isn't back in an hour we will go look for her, ok?" "I'm going to wait outside for her." He snatches his thinks off of his sleeping bag and walks out of the cave. Peeta hasn't said a word since his outburst and continues to pace. I watch and wait for him to talk to me. He looks up from the floor, where he has been staring, and stops his pacing. But he doesn't say anything to me; he just sits down on his sleeping bag and stares at his hands. If anything his silence hurts me more than his outburst. I know that I have hurt him and I wish I could take the pain away, but I can't and it kills me inside. Suddenly I hear Cato's angry screams from outside. "DON'T TELL ME TO LOWER MY VOICE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD, WE ALL DID. A CANON WENT OFF AN HOUR AGO AND YOU WERE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!" Peeta goes to look outside but I gently grab his arm and shake my head. He nods, understanding that we should give them a minute and pulls his arm out of my grasp. I hide the wounded look on my face from him and wait for Ander to come inside. When she does, Peeta and I smother her in hugs and questions about where she was.

After she answers our questions, we all help clean the meat and cook it. After dinner I volunteer to take watch and everyone falls asleep within minutes. I look around at my friends and feel a sense of dread wash over me. I need to leave, so they won't be distracted. They all know that I don't plan on winning. If I go I can take out the rest of the tributes for them. I glance around the small cave and grab my knives. I should probably leave them a note. Outside I grab a handful of berries, a bundle of grass blades, and the biggest leaf nearby. Back inside the cave I crush the berries for my ink and use the bundle of grass to write my letter on the leaf.

Dear Peeta, Ander, and Cato,

When you read this I will be gone. I am leaving to find was left of the tributes and kill them or die trying. I think you all know by know that winning has never been my game plan, its been to keep you all alive for as long as possible .Cato, you are my brother in everything but blood and I love you. Ander, you have become one of my best friends and I hope you would say the same about me, I love you. Peeta, since the day I met you, you have captured my attention and stolen my heart. As much as I want to be with you, I want you to be alive even more. I never believed that you could fall in love with someone during these games but you have proven me wrong, I love you and I hope that someday you will forgive me for leaving you like this. I'm sure you all are wondering why I feel the need to do this for you all and the answer is simple, every one of you has a family that needs and wants you to get through this. I made a promise you myself that I would do everything I could to get at least one of you home, even if it meant dying. I love you all and wish you luck.

-Mia


	19. Chapter 19 -Ander POV-

Chapter 19

I scurry down the tree and actually begin to hunt, the one thing that can completely clear my mind and put me at peace. I shoot down another of those strange birds, two squirrels, and a rabbit. "This should be enough." I think to myself. I begin to head back to our camp, as I near the edge of the tree line I see the massive form of Cato hunched over on a rock with his head in his hands. He hears my footsteps as I approach and he snaps his head up. "Where did you go!" he asks loudly also sounding a bit angry. I'm not really liking the tone he is using with me, as if I did something wrong. "I went hunting." I say while holding up the game I killed. He stands up in front of me, he is clearly tense. "You were gone for THREE HOURS!" he shouts. This makes me a little nervous, we are still in the arena and a tribute could come from anywhere and kill us. "Cato lower your voice." I hiss. "DONT TELL ME TO LOWER MY VOICE! I THOUGHT YOU DIED, WE ALL DID. A CANNON WENT OFF AN HOUR AGO AND YOU WERE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND." now he is just full out yelling. To be honest its not really surprising that I didn't hear a cannon while I was thinking, I tend to completely shut out the world around me when I'm thinking really hard. "Cato," I say in a soft tone, "I'm fine, I'm not hurt, I'm alive and nothing has happened to me." I wrap my arms around him in a hug. I can barely get them all the way around his chest. He wraps his arms so tight around me he nearly crushes me, his body relaxes and he rests his head in between my collarbone and neck. He sighs, lifts his head and releases me from his arms. Then he plants his hands firmly on my shoulders and says "I swear if you ever scare me like that again I will carry you everywhere with me and never let you out of my sight." I didn't even know he cared that much. We walk back over to the camp together and when we arrive I am immediately bombarded with questions of my whereabouts and hugs. I can tell it isn't going to end well when I leave tomorrow. After we get settled everyone helps clean and cook what I killed, by then it is dark and time for us to get some rest, Mia volunteers for first watch. I get up and snuggle down into my sleeping bag, carefully planning my break off from the alliance as I fall asleep.


	20. Chapter 20 -Mia POV-

Chapter 20

The front and back of the letter is covered by the time I am done, but I know that I explain everything the shortest way that I could. I take a second to look at each person. The memories I have made with them wash over me like a tidal wave and I realize that this could be the last time that I see them. I walk over to Peeta and lightly brush my lips against his and murmur a soft I love you. As I pull back I see him smile and say something in his dream. I make sure I have my knives and start to walk out of the cave. You have to do this, I tell myself. No matter how hard I try I can't stop the flow of tears that run down my face when I slip out of the cave and make my way into the forest. I head back towards what I hope are the springs where I was injured by Marvel and Glimmer. While I am walking I notice something moving in the bushes and shadows. I pull out my knives and turn towards the noise. The rustling suddenly stops and I hear no noises at all. This is strange, there is normally a bird chirping, a squirrel running, or a bunny hopping but there is nothing. Something is about to happen and I can feel it in my bones. I quickly sprint towards my destination hoping to out run whatever is hiding from me. I hear growling as I run and the footfalls of a large animal. Finally I make it to the springs and I quickly use my knives to climb a tree. Once I am a safe distance up I look at what was behind me and it makes my blood run cold. Panthers but they are mutated, you can tell by the overly large front fangs and the spike ball at the end of their tail. I sigh in relieve as I notice that they panthers can reach the lowest limb on my tree. "AHHHHHH!" I turn my heads towards the scream and see a girl lying in a pool of blood with one of the panthers next to her mutilating her body even though it's obvious that she is dead. Within 5mins almost every tribute that I had planned to hunt down is dead. The canons start to boom and the panthers chomp away at any tribute close by. Even though there are only 5 panthers they are effectively killing everyone in sight. I see the bushes on my left shake slightly. That's where the cave is, it must be Cato, Ander, and Peeta. I know that there is no way they couldn't have heard the screaming and canons and since I left they must think I am hurt. I watch as they come out of the bushes with weapons held high. I notice that their faces pale when they see the massacre that has occurred in the last 5mins. Ander walks forward to take a look around, I watch as she scans the tree line and makes eye contact with me. I can tell she is angry by the look in her eyes and right when she plans on telling me to come down a panther comes out and attacks her. I am stunned in horror as the panther claws across her face. Cato yells and quickly chops its head off then moves to stand in front of Ander. As the last three panthers surround Peeta and Cato, I jump out of the tree and land knife first into the closest one. I see in the corner of my eye that Ander is trying to stand back up from behind Cato. I turn to look at Peeta and I see that one of the panthers is behind him. "Peeta, don't move." I say softly. He instantly freezes and I slowly move to the right so I can have a better angle on the panther, but before I can throw my knife no out nowhere another panther claws Peeta across the chest. I rapidly throw both my knives and successfully hit the panther in his eye. I protectively lean over Peeta and check his wounds, they aren't very deep but he will have scars. I hear something wiz past me and a thud from behind. I look up to see that Ander is standing with her bow and she must have taken the shot. That's four down so only one to go. I grab my knives out of the dead panther's eyes and look around for the last one. I barely take notice of the blood stained battlefield around me as I look. I start to make my way back over to Peeta when I see that the last panther is charging towards Ander. "ANDER LOOK OUT!" Everything is in slow motion, Ander shoots just as the panther leaps into the air, and she hits her mark but just the panthers claw strikes her across the stomach as it falls out of the air. Cato catches her before she can fall. "Are you ok?" Cato asks. I drag Peeta over to where they are so he can be out of harm's way. I look over Anders wound, thankfully its not too deep but she will have scaring. "You should be fine, once we get back to the cave we can put the medicine we have on it and it should be healed up by tomorrow, but you will have scars on your stomach and face." I say consolingly. "Scars are better than being dead. I can walk to the cave Cato, you'll have to carry Peeta." Ander states. Cato walks to Peeta and gently picks up his body. I grab the weapons and let Ander use my shoulder as a crutch so we can move faster. Once we are back at the cave we apply medicine to Ander and Peeta's wounds. I don't tell them about the ones I have because I know that I deserve them. When we finish Ander lays against Cato's shoulder on the wall of the cave and I am trying to get Peeta to eat but he won't touch the food or look at me. I feel so weak and useless since he won't accept my help and I'm sure my heart is screaming as loud as it can for me to do something, but I know I can't. Peeta is angry at me, first for telling Ander to choose Cato or him and second for running away. Never the less I keep trying to get him to eat. I have also noticed that Cato is reluctant to talk to me too. Right now the only person in the room that will look at me is Ander. "Alright you two," I turn to see that Ander is sitting up and pointing at Cato and Peeta. "You need to cut it out, Mia did nothing wrong, I was planning on leaving tomorrow too. We all knew it would happen eventually, so stop acting like brats." She forcefully says. Cato's eyes are now on me and I can tell he is sorry, but Peeta still won't look at me and I realize that I probably ruined whatever relationship we might have had. I set the food on the ground and stand up to stretch my legs. "Leaving again are we?" Peeta snidely remarks. I recoil back from him as if I have been slapped. I am trying to understand him but he won't look me in the eyes. My stomach drops and I can feel my heart scatter at the implication of what he said. I don't even notice as the tears fall from my eyes. He no longer loves me. He wants me to leave. I turn away from him and move to leave the cave. "Mia, don't leave." Cato frantically says. "I'm not, I just need some fresh air, but you are more than welcome to watch me if you think I'll run off." He doesn't say anything as I slip out of the cave and wonder over the rock where everything fell apart.


	21. Chapter 21 -Ander POV-

Chapter 21

I wake up to the sound of cannons, instinctively I grab the sword that is tied to my hip and stand ready to attack. I count the cannons and if my calculations are correct then only five tributes remain. I know what is going on now, this is the grand finale to take us out. I do a quick head count of our little group, Cato is sprawled out on top of his bag clutching a sword, Peeta is snuggled down comfortably in his bag and Mia, IS MISSING. I sprint over to where her things were and find a leaf with her good byes on it, I quickly read it and it nearly brings tears to my eyes. "Cato, Peeta get your butts up now!" I scream as I kick Peeta in the arm and smack Cato in the chest, these men sleep like rocks. "Get up we have to go help Mia!" I yell again, that is if she is still alive. This thought makes me even more driven to get these bumbling idiots up. At the sound of Mia's name Peeta's eyes shoot open. Cato however is still sound asleep. I'm fed up with this. I send my body down on top of him, laying out across his stomach. "OOPH" a breath escapes from an alarmed Cato. Peeta is scurrying in the background fumbling with weapons and trying to regain his footing from tripping over a backpack. "What in god's name are you doing Ander!" he yells. I roll off of him and stand up. I grab my bow off of my back, load it and then put up my sword. "Mia ran away and there are mutts out there ripping heads off, there are only five of us left and I'm sure wherever those mutts are you will find Mia." I take a deep breath because I have been explaining so quickly. "Now get your butts in gear and lets go find her!" I scream at them because they both have stopped what they were doing to look at me. "GO!" I yell again. I step outside the cave and thank the lord that Mia didn't cover her tracks. With the two boys behind me I take the reins of the "rescue mission" and follow. We have now gotten close enough to the mutts to smell the blood from the murdered tributes. I take and deep breath knowing that beyond these bushes is a creation of the capitol that would love oh so dearly to rip through my flesh. The boys crouch behind me, "on three" I mouth to them. I hold up my fingers, one, two, three! I jump through the bushes with my bow at the ready, two arrows already notched, when I see it. The grass is no longer green but a deathly red, human remains lay scattered all over the place. It nearly makes me sick to my stomach. The mutts are nowhere to be seen. I cautiously walk into the middle of the field and scan the tree line, it looks clear. I look up into the trees and spot Mia, I'm just about to tell her to get her butt down here so I can kick it when something black flashes across my vision. I am hit with force and fall on my back, I feel a hot searing pain in my cheek and a warm fluid runs down my neck. "Ander!" shouts Cato, he jumps in front of me and slices the head off of the blood thirsty beast. Peeta sprints over and I stand just as three more panthers surround us, but this time I will not fall. I will stand my ground and fight till my last breath, because everything building up to this moment has lit a fire inside of my very being that threatens to burn down everything in its path. I finally find my balance as Mia jumps down from the tree into our little defense circle while successfully stabbing and killing a panther. We both notice at the same time another one of the black killing machines headed towards Peeta. "Peeta don't move." Mia says slowly, she is about to kill the panther coming towards him when another jumps out of nowhere and slices him across the chest. Mia runs to Peeta, covering him with herself and checking his wound. The panther that was originally stalking Peeta is now in full attack mode and starts to run towards them, I send an arrow through its eye before it could move another step and it drops dead. "Ander look out!" Mia screams. I see the last panther out of the corner of my eye heading straight for me. The animal leaps into the air and sets its mark on me, but quicker than lightning I whip an arrow from the quiver and notch it sending it into the panthers chest, but I am a second too late and the large cat digs its claws into my abdomen right before it drops out of the air dead. I fall back from the force of the attack and Cato catches me in his arms. "Are you OK," he asks frantically as he sets me down gently and I lift up part of my shirt to inspect the wound. Mia comes over dragging a miserable looking Peeta with her. She looks over my claw marks and says, "You should be fine once we get back to the cave we can put the medicine we have on it and it should be healed up by tomorrow. But you will have scars on your stomach and face." I stand with a grunt as I feel the intensity of the wound. "Scars are better than being dead." I say coolly, "I can walk back to the cave, Cato you will have to carry Peeta." Cato picks Peeta up and I lean on Mia to make the journey back a little easier, we still have to hide out because there is another tribute left. It takes a good fifteen minutes for our injured group to return to our campsite. We apply medicine on all of our wounds, mainly focusing on mine and Peeta's, Haymitch was generous enough to send another jar of it, and then putting it on the small scratches. I am leaning against a wall of the cave and Cato's side, using his shoulder like a pillow. Mia is trying to coax some food into Peeta but he is refusing any efforts of help from her and not responding to anything she says. I know why, its because she ran away and the letter she left us ripped his heart out, Cato is still pretty upset about the whole thing too. To be quite honest they are being jerks. I sit up off of Cato and begin to talk. "Alright you two," I say pointedly looking at Cato and Peeta, "you two need to cut it out, Mia did nothing wrong, I was planning on leaving tomorrow too. We all know it would happen eventually so could you stop acting like little brats." I say forcefully. Cato's face softens and I know I won him over, Peeta on the other hand still will not even spit in Mia's direction. Mia has obviously had enough of Peeta's stubbornness and gets up to walk outside. "Leaving again are we?" Peeta spits. I can't believe he just said that, all Cato and I can do is sit there with our mouths open. Mia begins to cry and run outside. "Mia don't leave." Cato begs. "I'm not, I just need some fresh air, but your more than welcome to watch me if you think I will run off." she says bitterly through her tears. Oh I am about to tear Peeta Mellark a new one. She barely clears the entrance of the cave before I'm bounding over to Peeta, he looks ready to pea himself because he obviously knows he is going to get it from me. We have been friends for a while and he knows by now that once you push me off the edge there is no coming back, my anger takes control and the fire consumes me. "Peeta Mellark you better hope you don't come within five feet of me or Mia because if you do I will skin you alive!" I shout as Cato literally lifts my entire body over his shoulder and hauls me out of the cave and away from strangling Peeta. Cato cups my face in his hands and chuckles because it makes my cheeks big and my lips pucker, adding a sense of hilarity to my deadly scowl. "You two just need to stay out here for a while and cool down OK" he says as he rubs his thumbs across my cheeks, being careful to avoid the claw marks on the right one. This soothes me a bit and I'm not quite as angry anymore, but I could still punch the crap out of Peeta. "Fine." I sigh. "I'm going to take her hunting, see if you can't get Peeta to pull his head out of his butt." Cato laughs and helps me up, seeing as though I still am injured. I start to walk away when he grabs my wrist. "Be careful." he says. I shake my head yes and walk over to Mia. "Come on we are going hunting." I say as I put a hand on her back to motivate her to stand. She nods her head and wipes her eyes. I grab my bow and we walk into the woods. "Ignore Peeta, he is just angry because he is always getting hurt." I joke trying to cheer her up. She gives me a small smile. After that I completely lose myself in concentration for the hunt. "I'm going to go look for some berries OK" Mia says, I just nod as I try to track some rabbit prints. She is only gone for a moment when she says "Hey Ander." "Yea is something wrong." I ask, looking around for her. "Nope I was just wondering if you could check these berries and make sure they are safe." she says a bit strangely. I walk to her and give her a small smile in case the problem is Peeta related. She shifts her eyes up, I don't understand, why is she-. I can sense it now, there is something here that shouldn't be. I look up into the tree we are under, her bright red hair is a dead giveaway. The girl tribute from five whom I refer to as foxface sits perched on a limb, her face could only be one of true terror. I aim my arrow at her, "I'm sorry." I say loudly so that she may hear me. The girl gives a slight nod, I release my arrow and it finds its mark in her eye. I tried to give her a quick death. The cannon sounds. "Let's head back before Cato freaks out." Mia says solemnly, I nod and head towards the cave. We run back to the cave and when we get there we see weapons and backpacks being thrown around by two very frantic boys. "Are you guys OK?" I ask them, the second that sentence leaves my mouth their heads snap up. "Thanks for scaring us into thinking you were dead again." Cato booms, obviously upset. I walk over to him and pull him into a hug to calm him down, he relaxes and then says absentmindedly to me, "I guess I'm gonna have to carry you around with me everywhere I go after all." I give a small laugh. I remove myself from Cato's grasp to see Mia and Peeta wrapped in each other's arms, well its about time those two made up. We all sit down in a circle, finally coming to the realization that only two of us can go home, but I refuse to accept this and apparently so does Mia, she sets one of her knives into her lap, we all follow suit. This could be it. I say to myself as I aim the sword in my hand at my throat. One. Two. "Stop Stop." the speaker's boom, "Ladies and gentlemen I give you the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games! Cato Stone, Chromia Basanite, Peeta Mellark, and Oleander Evanthe!" We've done it! We are all going home! I stand up and drop my weapon out of shock. Cato jumps up and gathers me into his arms, he then proceeds to pull Mia and Peeta into it so we are just a giant clump of people. We hear the hovercraft coming so we walk outside, the ladder comes down and I step on, being frozen to the spot immediately. We are reeled in and once I step onto the hovercraft I am once again gathered into someone's arms, but this person smells slightly of booze. Haymitch releases me and gives me a once over, probably checking for serious injuries. He gives me a smile, "You did good sweetheart." he pats me on the shoulder then moves on to Peeta who is just now arriving. I slump down into the seat, just as I see an unconscious Peeta being rolled into another room. I completely lose it, we just managed to get him out of that arena and now those capitol freaks are taking him away again! I run over to them, grabbing the first attendant I see and shoving him to the ground while yelling, "Don't you dare touch him!" I mean I have to protect Peeta, sure he was being a jerk but he is one of my best friends from 12. I am punching and clawing at the other capitol people when I'm yanked back, Cato, Haymitch, and Brutus the mentor for two are trying to tow me away from the disgusting creatures. I'm screaming all the while as I watch Peeta be rolled away once again and doors cut him off from the rest of us. I give up and slump to the floor, dragging the men down with me. "Go on," Cato says to them, "I got her." He lifts me up into his arms like a baby and I bury my head into his shirt, he sits down in a chair and keeps me in his lap. I hear a sniffling sound coming from beside us. Mia. I climb out of Cato's lap and walk to her, sitting in the seat beside her. I wrap my arms around her shaking figure and she rests her head on my shoulder. I'm about to tell her everything will be OK when I feel a prick in my neck, I instantly feel drowsy and all I see after that is darkness.


	22. Chapter 22 -Mia POV-

Chapter 22

I'm not outside more than 5mins before I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Come on we are going hunting." I hear Ander tell me. I wipe my eyes and stand up to follow her. "Ignore Peeta, he is just angry that he is always getting hurt." She jokingly says. I give her a small smile for trying to cheer me up. Just as I am about to ask her a question I see that she is completely focused on the hunt. She has her bow and an arrow ready to shoot at the first sign of an animal. Forget about the question and tell her. "I'm going to look for some berries, ok?" She nods absentmindedly and I start to look through the foliage for edible berries. A soft shifting sound from above me grabs my attention, but I don't move away from what I am doing so whatever it is doesn't know that I am aware of it. "Hey Ander?" "Yea? Is something wrong?" "Nope," I say while lying through my teeth. "I was just wondering if you could check these berries to make sure they are safe." I hear her footsteps as a confirmation that she is coming to check. Please look up into the tree above me Ander! I really hope she is a mind reader or is severely paranoid. I see her form coming closer and I sigh in relieve when I see her bow still up. She walks around the tree and smiles slightly when she sees me. I look into her eyes and try to give her a signal by making my eyes look up without using my head. She furrows her brows and looks up. I watch as she gasps in surprise and pulls the arrow back tighter on her bow. I finally let myself turn around to see a girl sitting in the trees above me with a resigned look on her face. "I'm sorry." Ander says shortly before she releases the arrow and kills the girl. That's the last tribute other than me, her, Cato and Peeta. The canon goes off signaling her death. "Let's head back before Cato freaks out." I say solemnly. Ander and I run back to the cave to tell Cato and Peeta the news. When we enter the cave we see that Cato and Peeta are frantically throwing things around . "Are you guys okay?" Ander questions as we walk further into the cave. Both Peeta and Cato jerk their heads around to look at us. "Thanks for scaring us into thinking you were dead again!" Cato says heatedly. I watch as Ander walks over to him and pulls him into a hug. I smile when see that his body relaxed once he had her in his arms. I glance at Peeta and see that he is awkwardly shuffling his feet. He looks up at me and I give him a small smile and he returns it. I am about to look away when I feel his warm arms around me squeezing the life out of me. I wrap my arms around him and set my head against his chest so I can hear the slow beat of his heart. Just as Peeta and I pull back from our hug so do Ander and Cato. We all smile and sit in a circle. The air thickens as the realization comes in that only two of us will make it out. I look at the faces that I have come to love in different ways. I know that I couldn't kill them or watch them kill each other. I move my arm and pick up my knife, once it is in my hands I bring it towards myself and set it in my lap. They all look at me with a sense of understanding. They grab their weapons and put them in their laps also. As if we are all thinking the same thing we lift our weapons and aim them near our own throats. We all make I contact with each other rather than say good bye. Together we count down our own demise. "One..two..-" " Stop,stop!" the gamemaker yells. "Ladies and Gentlemen I now give you the winners of the 74th annual Hunger Games! Cato Stone, Chromia Basanite, Peeta Mellark, and Oleander Evanthe."


	23. Chapter 23 -Ander POV-

Chapter 23

My eyes shoot open and are blinded by a bright light. I'm surrounded by white. White walls, white floors white sheets. I spot Haymitch slumped over in a chair asleep. "Ahh good Ander your awake." says a man in a white coat, his skin is an unnatural shade of purple and his hair an electric blue. I recoil back further into my bed as he comes near. "Now we will have to sedate you again so that we can remove all those nasty scars." he says as he moves closer with a needle. No, these scars remind me of what I had to go through, even the ones I acquired before the games. They have meaning to me and I want to keep them, perfection is something only the people of the capitol desire. I know that I am broken with sharp edges, and to be anything but would feel like a piece of me was missing. "No." I practically growl. The doctor stops in his tracks. "Oleander we want you to be perfect when you are crowned as a victor, come now let us get rid of them." he moves toward me again. "I said no and if you come any closer with that needle I will snap your neck like a twig!" I scream at him. He calls nurses to hold me down, that was a big mistake. They try to pin down my arms and legs but don't get very far, I knock them out once they even attempt at touching me. Haymitch awakes to the chaos and leads the doctor out of the room. I hear Haymitch yelling at the doctor before he finally comes back in. "Good news sweetheart, they are going to let you keep them." Haymitch says as he plops himself back into the chair. "Haymitch where are the others." I more demand than ask. "They have already been discharged and taken back to the tribute center getting ready for the crowning, you are the last to go. Come on." Haymitch leads me out of the hospital, once we walk outside I notice that the white shirt and pants I'm wearing are practically glowing in the natural light. We get in a car and it takes us to the training center, where I meet Cinna in my old room. "I knew you could do it." he says as we embrace when I walk into my room. After that it is all silence, I'm still trying to soak in everything that has happened. I get to go home, I get to see my family again. This thought nearly brings tears to my eyes. Cinna starts to apply makeup and does my hair himself, he probably knows I'm in no mood to be around capitol people, he is the only one I actually like. "Close your eyes." he tells me, I do as he says and a moment later a silky fabric lighter than air surrounds my body. "Open." he says gently. I look into the mirror and I am amazed at the girl, no fierce woman that stands before me. My hair is done into an intricate braid on one side, the side with the scar, and on the other waves of dark blond hair cascade to my shoulder. My makeup is dark and dangerous, it even highlights the three claw marks on my cheek. But the dress is the best part, it has shimmering jewels on the breast areas and from there it is just flowing silk, it goes from gray to a fiery orange and when I walk I look like the flame of a candle dancing around in the dark. Cinna gives me plain gray heels to slip on, and I am ready to receive my crown as a victor. ( here is a link to the dress . )

We go down to the stage where the interviews, I see Cato standing alone so I assume the others are not ready yet. "Hey." I say in a tired voice, today's events have taken a toll on me. "Wow," Cato whispers. "What?" I ask. "You look, just um wow, and you kept the scars." he says hurriedly. "Yea, scars are kind of a sentimental thing for me." I say as I stretch out my arm revealing a nasty looking scar on my arm. "like this one, I got it when I was attacked by a wild dog in the woods, but it always makes me remember how my mom took care of me. It helps me remember how much she loves me." I say the last bit in a whisper. Cato gives me a questioning look, he doesn't know my mom has never been the same since my dad died, or that my family's survival rides on my shoulders. I just shake my head and walk away, I need a moment to think about Sally and Jace and my mother, and I would rather be alone to do that. I give myself a moment and when I go back to where Cato was I see him and Peeta and Mia in a big hug, this makes me smile. "Hey!" I call to Mia playfully. "How is it fair that you get to hug both of them, if I recall correctly Peeta is your boyfriend, not Peeta and Cato." I joke with her as I walk over to them. I just reach the outside of the little huddle when an arm that is undoubtedly Cato's pulls me into our little group of friends and we all embrace. Haymitch calls us over, "The interview is about to start," he says, "they are going to ask you a lot of difficult questions about decisions you made in the games and about your relationships between each other. They want to break you and your relationships. President Snow is angry that you all made it out alive, and he wants you to pay for rebelling against his games and making them look easy. Your defense is that you all love each other as siblings or more and the thought of killing each other was too horrible to even be considered. Whoever feels like they are the strongest or most able to answer the questions should unless it is asked to a specific person. Before the interview they are going to replay the games and make you watch." just the thought of this makes me shudder. "Be prepared for hard questions and harder answers." we all nod. "You will have to be separated for a short amount of time so the audience will get to watch your 'first' reunion since you were taken to be healed." Ok, time to put on your brave face Ander, no cracks, no chips. You have to be strong for everyone, there are a lot of people depending on you. And I refuse to let Snow have the satisfaction of knowing he has broken me down some, knowing he is making my walls crumble brick by brick. But I won't give up, it will take much more than this for me to completely crumble. I walk to my mark on the side of the stage, waiting for our introduction. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present your 74th annual Hunger Games winners! Chromia Basanite, Cato Stone, Oleander Evanthe, and Peeta Mellark." the ever so colorful Ceaser Flickerman shouts at the crowd. I walk out on stage just as Cato does, we meet each other's gazes and his is reassuring, he doesn't know how much I needed that. Only seconds later Mia and Peeta emerge from the sides of the stage and we all meet in the middle in a big group hug. The audience cheers and screams, after a moment we break away but not before Peeta and Mia kiss. I roll my eyes playfully, they are too cute. I follow Cato over to the couch set up on the stage and sit next to him. After Mia and Peeta are done with their moment they join us, causing me to have to scoot so close to Cato that I am practically in his lap. "Now then, its nice to see that all of you are back in good health," Ceaser beams. We all nod and the lights dim. Deep breaths, deep breaths, I keep telling myself. Cato must have noticed my slight panic because he grabs my free hand, the other being held by Mia, and wraps his two giant ones around it. His hands are rough and callused, but I notice they also have this certain warmth and tenderness as they encase my cold shaking hand. I am drowning in a sea of things I can barely handle, and Cato is my lifeline. The horrid weeks I spent in the arena fly by in a matter of minutes as the tape rolls on. I notice the entire video is focused on us, it makes me wonder if we were the center of attention the entire time or if they just edited it this way because we won. After that I basically tune out the rest of the video, its not like I didn't know what happened, I lived the freaking nightmare others watched on a screen. The next thing I know the anthem of Panem is playing and I am standing to receive my crown as a victor. President Snow makes his way over to us, from this close up the only thing that man reminds me of is a snake. The thing about snakes is that they like to do their hunting very discreetly, and before you even know what happened they have sunken their teeth into your skin and there is no turning back. This man, our president, is most definitely and undoubtedly in my mind a snake in the grass. Snow takes a golden crown from one of the two young girls beside him and sets it on Cato's head, next he moves on to me. He can sense it, I know he can. Snow knows that in my mind he has been revealed as what he truly is, and he doesn't like it. He may stand at the same height as me but when he places the golden crown on my head the look I give him makes him shrink into something that is barely worth my attention. I have stripped him of his power with this one look of determination and strength and I can tell that he is not pleased. I still do not give in to his glare. He moves on to Peeta so that what has happened between us goes unnoticed by his people. After the crowning is finished we sit back down. The boys and Ceaser do a lot of joking, me and Mia chiming in only when necessary. Finally Ceaser gets down to the serious questions. "So we know that both Cato and Chromia, and Oleander and Peeta have been friends since school, but how is it that you became friends with the others?" he asks. "Well Ander and Mia became close when they did some of the training for the games together after just meeting and it was obvious that Peeta and Mia had a connection after everyone heard Peeta tickling Mia." Cato states warmly. I don't even realize that I zoned out till Cato squeezed my hand, Ceaser was asking a question. "I think everyone would like to know if you are building a relationship." he says to me and Cato. "No!" we respond at the same time. Cato is just a good friend to me, nothing more. Ceaser holds up his hands, I really don't like the prying at relationships so my look is deadly, he probably really is scared. The next question is directed at me. "How hard was it for you when the gamemakers announced that two people could come out alive?" he asks. "It was hard for me because I didn't want to choose between my friends, it was hard enough when only one could win, but it was ten times harder when that was announced." Ceaser asks Peeta and Mia some questions about their relationship and then turns back to me and Cato. "So, Cato I heard that at first you and Oleander didn't quite get along hmm?" he asks. "Well that is kind of true, it was all just a big misunderstanding and we can both be pretty stubborn." he says jokingly nudging me in the ribs, but he unknowingly hit the spot where I was clawed in the games and the area is still a little sore. I grimace and he instantly looks guilty. "Im so sorry, are you OK?" "Yea, its OK" I say. He wraps an arm around me protectively, like something was going to hurt me. "Awww look at that, are you sure that there isn't a future relationship for you two?" Ceaser coos. "We are just good friends, promise." I say. For the rest of the interview I nod and respond when I am supposed to, not really even paying attention, lost in a sea of thoughts. We leave the stage and go back to the rooms from before the games, except Cato and Mia are staying on district 12's floor. I get to go home. This is the only thing I can think as I ride the elevator alone up to the rooms. I walk into my room immediately taking off the high heels and throwing off my dress. I take a warm shower and sort through all of my feelings about going home tomorrow. Im scared, anxious, excited, and so many more emotions. Feeling all of these things at once is exhausting. I step out of the shower and my eyes once again land on the bathroom mirror. The scars, I can't help but look at them. They will forever be my reminder of what happened in that arena, and what spark was ignited inside of me during my time in there. I walk into my room and throw on some baggy black sweatpants, a gray tank, and some black socks. I climb into bed hopping that sleep will find me soon and it does, only to be ripped away by horrific nightmares. A third time I bolt up in bed, my palms sweating and my body shaking, thoughts swirl around in my mind and I know there is only one thing that will clear it. I immediately spring out of bed and silently race to the elevator, taking it down to the training center which is still unlocked. I take up my bow and fire arrow after arrow till I hear the door to the archery room open. Thinking it was a guard or someone who might want to kick me out I slide into the shadows, my arrow trained at the person who entered. "Its just me Ander." says an obviously tired Cato. I release my firm grip on the bow and let it rest at my side. "What are you doing," he asks me, "its like three in the morning." " I could ask you the same question." I say a bit more bitterly than I meant to, the lack of sleep is getting to me. "Im sorry, I haven't had much sleep and there are all kinds of things on my mind and I just need to clear my head, shooting helps me do that." I say, hoping to make amends for my cutting remark. " Its cool, I understand, I haven't had much sleep either so I thought training could help clear away the nightmares." he says the last part a little quietly. "Its nothing to be ashamed of, I have them too." I tell him honestly. He looks up at me and a moment of understanding passes between us. We train together in a comfortable silence after that, neither of us wanting to go back to our rooms where the nightmares lay in wait. We continue on like this until it is time for us to gather our things to go home. Home, a place I thought I would never see again. I go up to my room and throw the dress I wore to the capitol after the reaping into a bag, that is the only thing I own in this room. I head down to the train station with Cato and when we enter we sit down next to Peeta and Mia who are cuddling in a chair. I report back to them the news Haymitch had given to me just as I was about to step on the elevator, he told me he has a surprise for us, but his tone was a bit grim. "Apparently Haymitch has a surprise for us." I tell the others. "He is going to tell us when he gets on the train." A few minutes later Brutus and Haymitch enter our train compartment. They take to some chairs that are sat in front of us. "We have some news from President Snow." Haymitch says. The very mention of our president's name makes bile rise in my throat and my expression turn to stone. " He is generously offering to allow any one of you to move to the others district so you won't have to be separated." This is a trap, I can feel it in the pit of my stomach. Snow wants us to reject the notion thus proving that our intent all along with the quadruple homicide was an act of rebellion. I hold my breath and wait for the next person to speak. Mia is the first to say anything. "Is this good or bad?" she asks. Haymitch gives a small smirk. "Its both," he begins. "if you accept, it strengthens your story even more and if you don't-" I cut him off. "he and everyone else will think it was only for the games or an act of rebellion." I say, I am angry beyond compare. He is trying to get us to basically sign our own death warrants. We all turn and look at Mia, with her tight relationship with Peeta she would be the most sensible choice to come live in district 12. "What?" she says, noticing our looks. "I think that Snow would be happy enough if only one person moved there and the other visited very often." Haymitch says slowly. "I was already packing my things in my head as soon as you mentioned it." Mia says excitedly. Wait, does she know what she just said? She is now going to be living in the poorest and dirtiest district in all of Panem. The place where food is little and hope is even less. I give her only a few minutes after she gets there before the place completely breaks her spirits. I catch the tail end of the conversation after I pull myself from my thoughts. Haymitch turns to me and Cato, as he was talking to Mia and Peeta before. "What about you guy, you wouldn't have to live together since you're not a couple but we have plenty of houses in 12 or I'm sure they could find room in 2." Haymitch says. Just the thought of moving my family to district 2 makes me sick to my stomach, I could never do that. Thankfully Cato speaks, "I would move to 12, but only if I can bring my mother and brother." he says. No, what is wrong with these people, I guess we really don't have a choice though. At least I won't have to move my family, I must be grateful for Mia and Cato's compliance. "Oh they would definitely do that." Brutus says to Cato. "Ok, then I will move to district 12 too." Cato says. I can't help but give him a small smile and hug him, his willingness to comply with our tyrants orders have spared my family a lot of heartache. "You guys should get some sleep before we get to district two." Brutus tells us. I follow his advice and head to my room. I crawl underneath my covers and fall into a wonderfully dreamless sleep. My dreamless sleep doesn't last very long though, the old dream I used to have of my father's death returns. I bolt straight up in bed gasping for air, as if I was being suffocated just as he probably was. I feel like the walls around me are closing in, I can't stay inside much longer. Thankfully we are stopped refueling so I sprint out of my room and out the first door I see marked with the white word "Exit". I stumble out of the car, causing an alarm to go off in the particular part of the train. I realize that I have no shoes on but this doesn't stop me from sprinting to the edge of the tree line and slumping against the nearest tree. My head rests between my knees and I am hyperventilating, only seeing pieces of the nightmare when I close my eyes. There are just so many emotions running through my head at the moment and I just let them all out, I start with crying. I haven't truly let myself cry over my father's death since the day he died. So I cry, and then it gets worse. I start to breath really hard and scream for my dad to come back. Even the presence of another person beside me does not stop this emotional breakdown of mine. I have now passed mourning and moved on to anger, primarily anger at Snow. Anger at him for the games and killing children, sitting by while people in my district, myself included, starve to death, and for sending my father into the retched mines that took his life. I feel a hand on my shoulder and fully notice that there is a person next to me, so to let out my anger I hit them. I kick and punch and scream horrible things to them and they take every bit of it. They don't let one foul word cross their lips, they only try to console me. I finally tire out after my phase of anger and look up at the person who has scooped me into their lap and started to rub circles on my back. Its Cato, he sits there shushing me and holding my once crumbling form together. I bury my head into his neck, he stands and begins to haul me back to the train. I can't help but wonder how he found me, or why he would let me sit there and abuse him, he will surely have bruises tomorrow. He takes me into the living compartment on the train and sits down with me on the couch. We look at each other for a good minute or two before he speaks. "Do you want to talk about it, it helps sometimes." I actually do, I haven't had anyone to truly vent to about my father's death. Gale would have been too upset to talk about it, and he also already knew, and Peeta and Madge just wouldn't understand. I just can't bring myself to divulge the information to Cato just yet though. I shake my head no. "You don't always have to be strong you know, that's what friends and family are here for." he says quietly. I know he is trying to help but the family reference just sets me off. "Family," I say in a sullen and deadly tone. "I haven't had a proper family since I was 11 years old. I have been the one supporting and loving and taking care of everyone else! I can't afford to think about how I feel about things because I'm too busy trying to keep my mother from falling back into a depression and my two younger siblings from starving! Families take care of each other, Jace and Sally are too young to know what to do. I am their family I'm all they have left and I can't let them see me weak because then they become upset." I finish off in a whisper. "What happened, just tell me." Cato says quietly. "My dad was killed in a mine explosion, around five years ago. My mom completely lost it and became so depressed she barely even moved out of her bed. So I was left to care for my seven year old sister and newborn brother. That was that, I never thought much of it, its just what I had to do. I love them more than anything in the world and I refuse to let anything happen to them." I feel about twenty pounds lighter after confessing all of that to Cato. And the reaction he gives me is completely unexpected. He does not look at me with pity as so many other have, but with a look of amazement or awe. I wrap my arms around his neck tightly. "You were right, I feel better now." I feel his arms snake around my waist, he says nothing, only presses his face into my hair which fell out of its ponytail long ago. I begin to feel myself get drowsy, completely exhausted from lack of sleep and continuous crying. The last thing I remember is laying my head in Cato's lap with his hand stroking my hair, then I actually fell asleep with not a single interruption.


	24. Chapter 24 -Mia POV-

Chapter 24

I did it! I got all of the people I love out of the Hunger Games! Cato quickly pulls Ander into his arms and not long after he grabs Peeta and myself. We hear the hovercraft outside and we walk outside to it, when the ladder comes down I step on and I am frozen immediately. We all rise up into the hovercraft together but once we are inside I see that the capitol people are taking a knocked out Peeta away. When Ander notices she begins to shove people out of the way and starts to yell. "Don't you dare touch him!" I watch in horror as they move Peeta into another room and Cato grabs Ander to keep her from attacking again. Tears fall out of my eyes and I know that I can't watch anymore. He isn't going to be hurt, I tell myself, He is fine and I will see him again and tell him how much I love him. I curl myself into a small ball and try to hold back my whimpers. When a hand lands on my shoulder I know that it is Ander and I feel her arms wrap around me in comfort. I rest my head against her and find myself falling sleep.

Bright lights surround me. Where am I? Suddenly the memories come flooding back through my mind. Games. Death. Freindship. Ander. Cato. Love. Peeta. Taken. My eyes shoot open and search for Peeta."Peeta!" I scream hysterically. A doctor comes in and tries to talk to me but I don't listen. "Peeta, where is he?" I ask as I grab the doctor by the collar and pull him up. The doors beside me open with a bang to reveal Peeta. I drop the doctor and run into his arms. Hearing his strong and steady heart beating sooths my aching soul. After a few seconds I notice that he is saying something but I can't tell what it is. I pull back slightly and watch as his eyes flutter open and blatantly stare into mine. "You are never leaving my sight again." He whispers forcefully and lovingly at the same time. "Never." I repeat with a soft smile. He leans down and kisses me. This kiss is different than our last one in the games, where the last one was desperate and needy, this one is reassuring and full of promises. Promises that we couldn't make in the games for fear of them not coming true. "Miss Basanite, we need you to let Mr. Mellark go and come back to bed so we can erase your scars. "NO." I say angrily. I hold on to Peeta tighter. "Is there a problem here?" Brutus says as Haymitch and him walk into the room. "She won't let me sedate her to heal her scars." "If she doesn't want it done she doesn't have to get it done." Brutus states. The doctor nods and leaves the room. I look back to Peeta and I push him away so that I can look him over. He gives me a strange look but doesn't comment as I run my hands across his face and onto his chest. Then I go to his thigh where the spear went through to make sure there wasn't permanent damage. I stand up and give him a satisfactory smile to let him know that I am done. "My turn." He says with a grin. He runs his hands through my hair and down my face, his hands stop at my shoulders to check my gash courtesy of Glimmer. Then he lets his hands gently slide down my sides and legs. He gives me a nod and pulls me back into his arms. "Perfect." Haymitch walks up to us and gives us a big hug. "You to need to go so you can get ready for the interviews." He tells us as he pulls back. "Do you think that they will let us be together while they work?" Peeta asks Haymitch worriedly. "No, it should be fine. After Brutus saw you sprinting out of your hospital room to Mia's he figure that you wouldn't want to be apart and told your make-up people that he thought it would be best if you were together." I look over to Brutus and smile in thanks. He nods and walks out of the room. "Come on, I'll show you to your room." Peeta and I follow Haymitch back to the room I had last time I got my make-up done. "She'll be here in a minute so just sit down and wait." Haymitch says just before he walks out of the door. I push Peeta into a nearby seat and crawl into his lap. He sighs contently and wraps his arms around me and pulls me as close as he can. "I love you." I say it first this time because I want him to know that I mean it. I feel his smile on the top of my head. "I love you too."


	25. Chapter 25 -Ander POV-

Chapter 25

I wake up to a bright light, the sun is streaming through the windows in the train car, my head still rests in Cato's lap who is sound asleep. I get up from the couch and stretch out my arms and legs. Haymitch saunters in with a bottle of booze in tow. "Morning sweetheart." he says sounding at least half sober. "Go get the lovebirds up will ya." I roll my eyes. "Sure Haymitch." I sigh. I walk to my room, which happens to be right next to Mia's, and yell. "You guys need to get up so we can get everyone's stuff when we get to district 2." I walk into my room. I hop into the shower and bathe quickly. I dry off and dress into black cargo pants, black combat boots, a gray v neck t-shirt, and a red leather jacket. I throw my hair into a ponytail and walk into the dining car and sit down next to the only other person at the table, Cato. I set down my food on the table then turn around to grab some water. I sit down before I realize that the roll I had placed to my plate is now gone. I slowly turn my head towards Cato, who's cheeks are stuffed with none other than my roll. He tries to smile at me but ends up looking like a chipmunk with food stuffed in its mouth. I just laugh and get up and find another roll, this time when I sit down I find him drinking out of _my_ water glass. I snatch it away from him and he gives me this look of "what was that for". "You eat more than any other person I have _ever _meet." I tell him. He gives me a goofy grin. After that we get into this little debate over what long range weapon is better suited for hunting, bow or spear. In the middle of our chatting Mia and Peeta sit down, I don't really pay much attention to them because I'm trying to defend my beloved weapon. I obviously win. Haymitch and Brutus walk in to talk to us. "When we get to district 2 they will congratulate you all and when you two," Haymitch says pointing a fork at Mia and Cato, "go up on stage you will have to tell them of your choice to live in district 12 thanks to President Snows generous offer." he says the last part a bit sarcastically. After that we all continue to eat. We arrive in district 2 shortly and make our way to the stage where we are congratulated and Cato and Mia make the announcement. The crowd quickly disperses. I go with Cato to help him get his mother and brother packed while Peeta goes with Mia. I walk beside Cato down the sidewalks of district 2, we seem to be in a middle class area of the district. Not to wealthy, but definitely not poor. We arrive at his house and he walks inside and I stand at the steps outside, not wanting to be intrusive. Cato quickly notices I'm not right behind him and he grabs my arm and pulls me inside. "Mom, Cas, I'm home!" he yells through the moderately spacious house. I hear a strange sound coming from upstairs, then before I know what's happening we are being plowed down by a flash of blond as it smacks into Cato, sending his massive frame tumbling down on me. "Cato your back!" I hear a muffled scream from beside me. I look to see a small version of Cato buried in his big brothers chest. I smile at the two of them then peel myself off of the floor and stand. Cato also stands up beside me, managing to pry the little boy off of his body and placing him on the floor. This boy, who I guess to be Cas, is probably around Sally's age if I had to guess. He turns to me as if just now noticing I was there. "Cas, this is my friend Oleander." Cato introduces us. "Im gonna go find mom, be nice you two." he calls as he takes the steps of the stair case two at a time. I look back at Cas who is staring at me intently. "Your name is kind of weird, what does it mean?" he asks in the innocent way that only children can. "Its a flower, and you can just call me Ander." I laugh. He smiles, "That's cool." he says. Just then a noise comes from outside and I turn my head to the left, the direction from which it came. When I did this Cas must have gotten a good look at the scars on my face. I feel a small hand brush up against the claw marks and look at him to see curiosity and amazement in his eyes. "Wow, those are cool, but they must have hurt." he says breathily. I nod in response, " you think those are cool, you should see the ones on my stomach." I say jokingly. "could I?" his eyes light up as he says this. I wasn't actually expecting him to want to see them, I mean they are a bit scary, but I nod yes in response and lift up my gray t-shirt enough to reveal the gashes of discolored flesh that run across my abdomen. Cato bounds down the stairs with his mother following close at his heels, his eyes widen when he sees the scars left behind by the games. I throw the shirt back down over them quickly, I look at his mother and see her eyes are full of worry, but I can tell its not for either of her sons. The look was directed at me, but why on earth would she worry about me? "Cato your girlfriend is awesome." Cas shouts to his big brother. My eyes widen as do Cato's and we quickly try to explain to the boy that Cato and I are not together. All of the sudden while we are scrambling to clear the confusion Cas bursts out laughing. "You should have seen your faces, I know you aren't dating." We all roll our eyes at Cas. Mrs. Stone then walks over to me with a wide grin on her face. "you must be Ander." she says as she shakes my hand. "Yes ma'am, I came to help you all pack. That is if you need the help." I say politely. "That is so nice of you! Thank you." she beams. So far I like Cato's mother, she is very sweet and seems to care for everybody. She actually reminds me of my mother before my dad's death. I go upstairs with Mrs. Stone and help her pack away the things in her room. I start to hum an old song my father would sing with me and don't even realize I was doing it until I look up to see Cato's mother smiling at me. "You have a beautiful voice, I can tell just by your humming." she complements me. "Thank you Mrs. Stone." I say quietly, a little embarrassed that I was just doing that. I don't find my singing beautiful at all. "Oh no dear, call me Lauren." she says cheerfully. I nod my head ok then continue to put their things into boxes. I walk down stairs to find Cato looking through some old photo albums of his family on the living room floor. I sit down next to him and look at the picture he holds in his hands. This must be from a few years ago because Cas is just a little bundle in Laurens arms. I notice a small Cato hugging his parent's legs, he is the spitting image of his father. "You look just like him." I tell Cato. He looks away from the picture and down at me, I can tell he is sad. I wrap one of my arms around his waist and pull him closer to me, he leans his head on top of mine and we continue to look at the pictures in silence. I can still tell the whole thing about his father has him upset so I turn to him and say, "When we get to 12, I will show you the picture I have of my father." he looks a bit confused, probably because when I said it I only mentioned one picture. "Pictures are hard to come by in 12, just like everything else." He then gives me a small smile and stands up, pulling me along with him as he wraps me in a tight hug. He is so much taller than me that my feet are dangling off of the ground, I laugh. "All right you two, we need to get this stuff to the train station everyone will be waiting for us." laughs Lauren. Cato sets me down on the floor and puts the photo albums into boxes, and the entire home has been packed away. We carry the boxes to the train's station and end up getting there before Mia and Peeta. They arrive soon after and everyone is introduced and then we begin our ride to district 12, it suddenly hits me about half way through the ride that I'm going home, to my family and friends and everything I love. This revelation has me nearly shaking with excitement. Cas keeps himself entertained by asking questions about the hunger games. We are now nearing district 12 and I can barely contain myself I'm shaking with excitement. Haymitch pulls Cas and Lauren to the side so when we arrive they would be trampled. I feel Cato wrap my hand in one of his to steady me just as the trains speakers announce, "Welcome to District 12."


	26. Chapter 26 -Mia POV-

Chapter 26

We spend the rest of the time in silence while we wait. The door slides open and Shimmer and Portia walk in. "Congratulations." They say at the same time. Peeta nods in thanks for the both of us. I reluctantly pull myself away from him and sit down in my chair so Shimmer can get started. When she is finished I pull on my dress and step towards the mirror. My dress is a light sapphire with gems all across the top, it stops at mid thigh but has a piece of cloth coming from the waist and surrounding it. With it I have on a pair of blue and silver sandals and my make-up shapes my face to make me look older, as if the games have aged me and made me into a different person. I turn to look at Peeta and I see that he is wearing a metallic colored suit with a black button-up polo shirt underneath and a tie that is the same color as my dress. I grin and waggle my eyebrows at him and he laughs. When we are all through Peeta and I go to the stage where the interview will take place. As we turn the corner I see Cato standing off to the side waiting. I steer Peeta over to him and once we are there I pull both of them into a hug. "I'm glad you are okay." I say to him. "Hey!" I look over and see Ander standing with a playful smile on her face. "How is it fair that you get to hug both of them. If I recall correctly Peeta is your boyfriend not Peeta and Cato." I laugh as she gets pulled into the hug too. "The interview is about to start." Haymitch calls us to him so he can tell us what they are going to be asking us. "They are going to ask you a lot of difficult questions about decisions you made in the games and about your relationships between each other. They want to break you and your relationships between each other. President Snow is angry that you all made it out alive, and he wants to make you pay for rebelling against his games and making them look easy. Your defense is that you all love each other as siblings or more and the thought of killing each other was to horrible to even be considered. Whoever feels like they are the strongest or most able to answer the question should unless it is asked to a specific person. Before the interview they are going to replay the games and make you watch." We all shutter at the thought of watching the things we did during those horrible times. "Be prepared for hard questions and harder answers." We all nod in acceptance. "You will have to be separated for a short amount of time so the audience will get to watch your 'first' reunion since you all were taken to be healed." I look at Peeta and give him a shaky smile to let him know that I will be able to handle a few minutes of separation from him. He bends down and pecks me on the lips before we both have to walk to our areas. We are lead to different parts of the stage for our entrance. I don't have time to come to terms with what Haymitch told us before I can hear Caesar Flickerman getting the crowd ready for our appearance. "Ladies and gentlemen! I am proud to present your 74th annual Hunger Games winners. Chromia Basanite, Cato Stone, Ander Evanthe, and Peeta Mellark." I step out from behind the curtain and I see a stadium full of Capitol people and a giant screen for the replay of the games. I turn to my left and see my best friends and boyfriend. We all slightly jog towards the middle and pull each other into a big group hug. After only a few seconds we pull back so we can go sit down but before I can Peeta tugs on my hand so I will face him, he smiles at me and gives me a soft kiss. We break apart and smile at each other before lacing our fingers together and making to short trip to the couch were Cato and Ander are sitting. I sit down next to Ander and Peeta sits on my other side. "Now then," Caesar says. "Its good to see that all of you are back to good health." We all nod in sync and watch as the lights dim and the capitol seal comes onto the screen. I am not ready for this, to watch all of the horrible things I did, not only to the people I killed but to my friends when I left. As the show starts we all move in closer to each other to draw comfort. At this point the only thing keeping me in my seat is Peeta's strong arms around me and Anders tight grip on one of my hands. I watch as the weeks we spent in the arena are condensed into one hour. Each year they tell a different story and this year it's a story about love in three different ways. From the beginning it shows how the four of us survived the first three days without each other, and I realize that the whole thing is focused solely on us, from when we were together to when we were apart. We are forced to watch every horrible thing we did and all the regrets we made. But I am partially glad because by showing this it only reinforces our friendship and love for each other. I notice that they skip over parts where it might be 'rebellious' to the capitol. When the moment comes where we are sitting in the circle after the last tributes death the whole crowd goes quiet and I watch as we grab our weapons and look into each other's eyes one last time and just before we take our lives the gamemaker comes over the speaker and tells us we won. The anthem plays again and we watch as president snow and a two small girls walk up with cushions holding our crowns. When Snow comes closer we all sit up so he can put them on our heads. I look at the gold crown that has an intricate weaving and small pearl stones as he puts the first on Cato's head, then, Ander's, and as he puts my crown on my head I look him in the eyes and I see the accusation in them. Its me he is angry at, because I was the person who picked up my weapon to kill myself first, I am the instigator of our act of rebellion and he wants to take it out on me and my friends. I watch carefully as he crowns Peeta and leaves after congratulating us. Once he leaves Caesar turns his chair back towards us and starts his joking banter between us. After a few minutes of laughing and jokes he finally gets down to the questions. "So we know that both Chromia and Cato, and Oleander and Peeta have been friends since school, but how was it that you became friends with the others?" "Well Ander and Mia became close when they did some of the training for the games together after just meeting and it was obvious that Peeta and Mia had a connection after everyone heard Peeta tickling her." Cato states. Caesar and the rest of the audience laugh at the thought. "So Chromia, is it true that you and Peeta had some sort of connection from the beginning?" I smile and nod. "When I first saw him standing next to Ander after the parade something just..clicked, as if one look into his eyes was all it took to capture me." "Now that I have you, you aren't going to leave my sight again." He says fondly. "I'm happy to oblige." I retort with a smirk. Everyone in the audience sighs and wipes their eyes. "I think everyone here would like to know if you two are building a relationship also?" "No!" Both Cato and Ander say together rather forcefully. With one look in the audience I can see that they don't believe it and they must think they are in denial. Caesar holds up his hands in mock surrender and moves on to the next question. "How hard was it for all of you when the gamemakers announced that two people could come out alive?" Ander looks up and says. "It was hard for me because I didn't want to choose between my friends, it was hard enough before when only one could when but I became ten times harder when they announced that." Caesar turns to me. "Chromia, what was going through your mind when you told Oleander to choose between Cato and Peeta?" "That I had to make sure the people I loved came out alive, to me it didn't matter if I left the arena because even if I did win I would never forgive myself for letting them die." "Peeta what was it like for you to hear the girl you just told you loved and who said it back, to tell Oleander to pick Cato or you?" Peeta closes his eyes briefly and sighs. "It was a slap into the face, it woke me up from my fairy tale love to see that I wasn't out yet and even though we both loved each other our possibilities of being together were slim. When hear her tell Ander that, something inside me broke and all I could see was her broken body lying in front of me and I knew at that moment that I would rather die than live one day without her." Peeta has tears in his eyes by the time he is done and I wipe them away while whispering that I love him and I am never leaving. Caesar leaves us alone and focuses on asking Ander and Cato some questions about their reactions to it, along with some more personal questions on why they did certain things, and how they felt when they found out I left with only a letter as a form of good bye. "Cato when you got back from fighting of the panthers you were barely talking to Chromia and Peeta wasn't at all, why is that?" Cato glances at me before answering. "I was hurt because she left and angry because she, Peeta, and Ander could have died, but when Ander told me that she was thinking about leaving too I realized that I couldn't blame her because I might have done the same." "Peeta why were you ignoring her?" I fell Peeta shift under the weight of the question. "Mainly because I was angry, angry because for a short amount of time I thought she was dead." I am horrified by his answer and I look up into his eyes and see a small amount of pain from thinking that. "I'm sorry." I cry and I bury my head into Peeta's shirt. All but the last question are for Ander and Cato about their relationship growth and their struggles within the games. "Now for my last question, Chromia, I must ask why did you decided to pick up your knife and try to kill yourself, which lead to the rest of them doing the same?" This is it, the million dollar question that President Snow is counting on. Instead of a lengthy tale that everyone expects my answer is as short as the time it took to make the decision in the games. "I couldn't live without any of them." Peeta, Cato and Ander all nod with my statement and we hug. The whole crowd is awing and ooing at us while they wipe away more tears. Caesar signs off and the interview is over. We are going home. After tonight I will be leaving the capitol and I will only return for our victory tour. Peeta and I walk to the elevators so we can wash off this make-up and go to bed. As the elevator stops at the 2nd floor I glance at Peeta because I really don't want to be without him, after sleeping curled up next to him in the cave I can't imagine not having his warm arms around me to keep me save from my nightmares. I don't say anything because I don't want him to think I am weak or that I am needy."Good night." I say softly. He smiles and gives me a deep kiss. "Good night, I love you." "I love you too" I grin and step out of the elevator. I warily walk into my suite and in my room. After I take off the dress and crown, I scrub off all of my make-up. Pulling on a grey t-shirt helps me relax and sliding into the bed helps even more. Once I am in the bed though I can't sleep and I spend the whole night trying not to run to Peeta. I feel relieve flood through me when the sun comes up signaling the start of the day. I quickly jump into the shower and clean myself. Just as I finish pulling on a light dress given to me by Shimmer I hear a knock on the door. When I open the door a tired looking Peeta is on the other side. "Couldn't sleep?" I ask. "Nope, you?" I shake my head. "I..umm..I missed you being in my arms." "I missed you holding me." I tell him with a soft smile. He grins and pulls me into a close hug. "I have to go pack my things before we go home, but I'll come back up so we can come back down so we can go down together." I nod and watch as he steps out of the room. I walk back to my room and pack the small amount of things I have so I can go home. Home. Before the games my home was in district 2, but know my home is the same place my heart is..with Peeta. I feel a sense of dread wash over me as I realize that Peeta and I won't be able to see each other all the time. My breathing gets heavy and I become light headed at the thought. I quickly bend over and put my head between my legs and take in huge gulps of air while I try to calm myself down. By the time Peeta comes back I have calmed down and finished packing. "Are you ready to go home?" I can tell by the way he looks that he is about as excited at the prospect as I am. I don't answer but I grab his hand and intertwine my fingers with his. He smiles and kisses my temple. We walk out of the room and down the hallway to the elevators and down to the trains. Once we are on, we sit down on the closest chair and curl up together. I watch in silence as Cato and Ander get on together and sit down across from us. "Apparently Haymitch has a surprise for us." Ander says. "He's gonna tell us once he gets on the train." After a few minutes both Brutus and Haymitch climb onto the train and pull chairs up so that they can talk to us. "We have some news from President Snow." Haymitch says and I immediately tense up. "He is generously offering to allow anyone of you to move to the others district so you won't have to be separated." I stare at Haymitch. "Is this good or bad?" I ask imploringly. He smirks at my question and answers. "Its both, if you accept it strengthens your story even more and if you don't-" "He and everyone else will think that it was only for the games or an act of rebellion." Ander finishes for him with a fire in her eyes. I look up at everyone and I notice that they are staring at me. "What?" I ask with a confused look on my face. "I think he would be happy enough if only one person moved and the other visited very often." Haymitch explains to me. "I was already packing my things in my head as soon as you mentioned it." I say excitedly. Everyone laughs at me and Peeta gives me a curious look. "Are you sure? I don't want you to feel pressured." "Oh, I forgot to mention that you guys will be living together since you are a couple." Haymitch mentions nonchalantly. I shrug. "To be honest I kind of figure that he would do that, just so he could see if we are serious about our relationship." Peeta looks miffed at me. "So are you only doing this so Snow will be off our backs?" "No! I want to be with you, I love you and living with you would make me the happiest person alive." I say softly. His eyes widen at my comment. "I'm sorry, I just don't want to pressure you into moving this relationship too fast." "We lived in a cave together Peeta, and confessed our love after knowing each other for a little over a week, this is slowing down compared to that." I state while grinning at him. Everyone laughs because they know I am right. Haymitch turns to Ander and Cato. "What about you guys? You wouldn't have to live together because you weren't a couple but we have plenty of houses in district 12 or I'm sure they would find room in district 2." "I would but only if I could bring my mom and brother." Cato says. "Oh they would defiantly do that!" Brutus says answering Cato's question."Ok, then I'll move to district 12 too." Ander smiles and hugs him. I can't help but to feel over joyed that I don't have to live without Peeta and I don't have to leave Cato alone in district 2. "You guys should get some sleep before we get to district 2 then." Brutus tells us. We all nod in acceptance and start to head to our compartments for some sleep. When I get inside I slip off my dress and wash off my make-up. I pull on an over large t-shirt from one of the drawers and fall into the bed. As my head hits the pillow I slowly fall asleep, only to be woken up by horrible nightmares that rip screams of Peeta, Cato, and Ander's names from my mouth in my sleep. Not long after Peeta comes barreling into my room to pick up my body and cradle me. He lies back on my bed and I pull the covers around us. I can hear his murmured words of love and affection in my ear as he runs his fingers across my face and into my hair. I grab his face so he will open his eyes and look at me. "Don't leave me." I plead with him. "Never." He says it with so much conviction that I can't possibly not believe him. While I lay in this bed holding the love of my life in my arms I thank and curse god for the day that my name was picked for the Hunger Games. I know that being in them has made me stronger and brought me not only closer to Cato but into two new relationships, my friendship with Ander and my love for Peeta, but these games have also become the reason that the family I have created is threatened by president snow. For right now though I'm going to enjoy the strong arms and the steady heart beat of Peeta as I fall asleep.

I wake up to the feeling of being watched, as I open my eyes I see that Peeta is watching me with fascination. "Hello." I say. "Hey." "Were you watching me sleeping?" He blushes and looks away. "Yea, sorry." I give him a silly little grin. "That's ok, I watched you sleep in the arena." His blush grows even more. "Really? Why?" "I was on watch and you were sleeping next to me looking adorable, so I watched." He chuckles at my comment and gives me a kiss. "You guys need to get up so we can Cato's and Mia's things from district two and their family." Ander yells though the door. We both sigh at the prospect of getting up but we do any ways. We get dressed and walk out of my room to eat some food before getting off. We eat with across from Ander and Cato who are locked in their own world with each other and I can't help but to smirk at how close they are to being together just like Peeta and I are. Haymitch and Brutus walk into the room and sit down to talk to us. "When we get to district 2 they will congratulate you all and when you two," Haymitch points at Cato and I. "Go up to the stage you will have to them your choice to live in district 2 thanks to President Snows 'generous' offer." We both nod and go back to eating. Once we arrive at district two we all go straight to the stage and Cato and I make our announcement that we are moving to district 2. Everyone leaves shortly after we finish and we set out to pack our things. Ander goes with Cato to help him and his family pack all of their stuff and Peeta comes with me. Not to surprisingly my mother and sister don't talk to me when I walk in. Peeta looks at me and decides not to ask about why they aren't coming while we are still here. We pack up my stuff and we leave without bothering to say good bye. When we get back to the train we see Cato's mom and Cas. After everyone is introduced we get on the train and travel to district 12. Most of the train ride is spent answering Cas's questions about the games. Haymitch and Brutus pull Mom and Cas aside so that they won't get hounded when we get off the train. Before the doors open I grab Peeta's hand and intertwine our fingers and grab Anders arm to link with mine and I see that Ander and Cato are holding hands. As the doors open all we can hear is…"Welcome to District 12."


End file.
